The time traveler
by Writer207
Summary: Out of nowhere, a time traveler from the year 2041 shows up in the Man Cave. His mission? To make sure Captain Man will never quit being Swellview's hero. There is only one problem: he doesn't remember why Captain Man quits. While they try to discover what will happen in the near future, Henry is having a hard time at school and Ray falls in love. But nothing is what it seems...
1. The time traveler

**The time traveler**

* * *

It was another normal day in Swellview. Well, as normal as could be with all those criminals and villains running around. Fortunately, there haven't been a lot of crimes the past few days, allowing Captain Man to take a well-deserved break for as long as the big criminals decided to stay away.

As for Ray Manchester, he was stuck behind the check-out of Junk N' Stuff. Gooch was on vacation to visit his family, so someone had to watch the check-out. Schwoz and Charlotte wouldn't do it, since they were much needed downstairs. And after recent events, Ray had decided to stay upstairs while Henry kept his friend busy. The shop closed an hour ago, but that didn't stop Ray from staying in his store, away from that annoying bucket lover.

He heard the doors of the elevator open. Ray held his breath, hoping it wouldn't be him. And fortunately, it wasn't. He released the breath he's been holding - it was just Henry. He walked until they were face to face, each at one side of the counter. When he turned to Ray, he was glaring.

"Jasper is cleaning the bathroom," he said. So, he noticed, Ray thought. That kid had to be of some use.

"Yes, he is," Ray said.

"Apparently Captain Man told him to do that," Henry continued. Ray nodded.

"Yes, I have," he said. Henry wasn't too happy with the situation, but thinking about Jasper cleaning the bathroom put a smile on Ray's face.

"Why are you letting Jasper do the chores?" Henry then asked him, sounding rather annoyed with the situation. He thought of everything Jasper already had done for Captain Man the past week. Those were all simple chores, like cleaning the the Man-Van and Man-Copter, as well as taking out the trash.

"What, do you want to do them?" Ray asked him. It took a while before Henry responded.

"No."

"Thought so." The image of Henry doing all those chores was amusing to think of, even if Henry would never do it unless he had no choice. Then, he realized he hadn't answered Henry's question. "About your friend: he has to make himself useful around here. Besides, it's your fault he's doing the chores."

"How can it be my fault?" Henry wondered. Ray folded his arms.

"Well, _you_ were the one who told Jasper you're Kid Danger. _You_ are the one who showed him the location of the Man Cave. So, it is your fault Jasper is doing chores down there."

"You were going to wipe my best friend's memories. What was I supposed to do?" Henry said in return.

"Well, you shouldn't have brought him here," Ray responded. Sure, Henry was trying to protect his friend and all, but now Ray was stuck with yet another teenager who knew the location of the Man Cave. I mean, they already proved Jasper couldn't keep a secret. Really, everyone in the building was in trouble if that kid couldn't keep his mouth shut. Unfortunately, he had promised Henry he wouldn't wipe Jasper's memories. He had asked Schwoz if there was any way of making a memory wiper which targeted specific memories, but he had yet to hear of any result.

Before Henry could say anything else, Ray's attention shifted from him to the front door. A woman was standing at the door, trying to look inside. She had been standing there for quite some time now, from even before Henry came upstairs. Ray sighed and stood up from his spot.

"We'll continue this later," he said while he walked to the door. Once he opened it, he couldn't take his eyes off of the woman standing in front of the shop. He had to admit she was rather pretty with her black hair and chocolate brown eyes.

"I'm sorry, miss," he eventually stammered, "but we're closed." The woman nodded.

"Okay then," she said. Ray was about to close the door again, but she wasn't done talking.

"It's weird, isn't it?" she said, looking into the shop and at his face, "I've walked past this store every day going to work and going home and not once have I bothered coming here." She then smiled at him. _What a lovely smile,_ he thought. Ray decided to stick around for a while and talk to her. Talking never hurt anyone, right?

"Until tonight," he then said and she nodded.

"Yes, until tonight," she said after laughing with him.

Both of them seemed to ignore the teenager inside the shop who followed the conversation with much interest. Henry was just glad Ray spent time talking to a woman and showing interest in her instead of his mother. Other than that, he thought it was kind of weird for two complete strangers to talk to one another like that, as if they have known each other for a long time.

"This is a very interesting shop," the woman then said, looking past Ray into the shop. Henry folded his arms.

"It is," Ray said. Neither said anything for a few seconds, but Ray soon broke the silence again. "We're closed now but, if you want to, you can take a look around for a couple of minutes." Henry's mouth fell open. Normally, Ray wouldn't let anyone in the store, only those who had to be downstairs and Piper, if she wanted to. (It's not like anyone would stop her.)

The woman pressed her lips together and then sighed. "I'd love to, but I can't," she said, "my brother's back in town and I promised I'd go see him in…" she looked at the expensive watch around her wrist, "ten minutes. He doesn't like waiting, so…" she trailed off and Ray nodded, understanding the situation. It didn't mean he was happy with it.

"Oh," he said, then nodded, understanding the situation. "Goodnight, then." He slowly closed the door, wishing she wouldn't be gone so soon.

"But maybe…" she said, prompting him to quickly open the door again and listen to what she had to say. "Maybe I'll have some time to spare tomorrow. I can come back then."

"Yeah, sure," Ray nodded, a big grin appearing on his face, "See you tomorrow."

"Bye," she said, a smile appearing on her face as well. She started to walk away from the store, away to her brother. Ray watched her leave and caught her looking back one more time. He shut the door and then jumped up in joy and laughed.

"Did you see that?" he asked Henry, half-shouting and pointing at the door. He was a little disappointed Henry merely nodded.

"It was hard not to see," the blonde said.

"I know, right?" he said, "This is the first time such a pretty woman has showed interest." He failed to specify whether he was talking about the store or about himself – it was probable he was talking about both. Most women didn't really like junk and stuff, and only ever showed interest in Swellview's own Captain Man.

"Yeah," Henry said, finding no other way to respond. He and Ray walked to the back to the store, at the elevator. Ray took some bubble gum and put it into his mouth while Henry continued talking. "But, about Jasper—"

Ray didn't let him finish. He groaned loudly when he heard that name. Henry stopped talking. He knew what Ray was thinking right now.

"Why do you have to be such a buzzkill?" he said. The joy he had felt when and after he talked to that woman was gone now, replaced by the annoyance he felt whenever they were talking about or were close to Jasper. He chewed on the gum.

"Tell him to stop doing those chores," Henry said. Ray popped the bubble and transformed into Captain Man before he and Henry stepped into the elevator.

"And what are you gonna do if I don't?" Ray asked him. They looked at one another and Henry shrugged.

"Still working on that." He hit the button. The elevator went down at the high speed both of them had gotten used to after using the elevator so many times. Neither spoke until they had landed and the doors slid open. Henry and Ray walked into the Man Cave. Schwoz was looking at the computer screens, looking for even the slightest sign of criminal activity. Charlotte was helping him, but was sitting on the couch. There was no sign of Jasper.

"Is he still in there?" Henry asked Charlotte. Charlotte opened her mouth to answer, but Schwoz was faster.

"Yes," he said, sounding rather happy. He was just glad someone other than him had to clean the bathroom.

"I told him to stop working, but he won't!" Charlotte said, then turned her head at Ray and glared at him. Henry followed her example, folding his arms again and glaring at Ray.

"Really?" Ray said, "You're just gonna stare at me until I make him stop?" There came no reaction. Henry and Charlotte only stared. Eventually, Ray sighed loudly.

"Fine! I'll do it," he said, and the two stopped glaring at him. Henry and Charlotte celebrated this victory with a high five.

"Jasper!" Ray yelled. Not much later, Jasper ran into the main room of the Man Cave, still holding a cleaning brush in one of his gloved hands. He stopped running once he stood in front of his favorite superhero.

"Yes, Captain Man?" he asked, waiting for new orders. Captain Man opened his mouth to tell Jasper to stop cleaning the bathroom.

He never got his chance to say it. Something else, something much more important caught their attention. Without any warning, they heard a loud crack and a bright flash of light appeared. Within that light, about two yards away from the elevator, something started to materialize. It took a while before the thing gained a true shape, even if that shape wasn't too clear at first either.

While the thing was getting a shape, Henry popped a gum and with Ray assumed a fighting stance, ready to battle, whatever would happen after the process was done. Schwoz had noticed the event, too, but remained in seat, merely looking at the light, covering his eyes. Charlotte had stood up, moved herself to behind Captain Man and Kid Danger. Jasper, frightened by this peculiar event, was content with hiding and watching behind Charlotte.

Eventually, the light faded away and it left a construction. It could be best described as a fancy futuristic contraption. It couldn't be taller and longer than two yards. It was an oval pod, with at the side a small ladder. Part of it was covered with glass, and through there they could see someone sitting inside.

Henry squinted his eyes, looking at the man inside. "Wait a minute… is that—"

He couldn't finish what he was going to say, even if he wanted to. The man put his finger at a place on what could be that thing's dashboard and the pod emitted some orange gas at a rapid rate. Before Henry could finish, the five were breathing in the gas. Soon, everyone was coughing violently. Luckily, the gas was gone as soon as it came and not one minute later, they weren't coughing anymore. Henry did forget what he was going to say, but it must not have been that important if he forgot.

Some of the gas was released into the pod as well. The glass, which appeared to be the pod's door, opened and the man climbed out of it. Once he was standing on the ground, he almost stumbled over his feet while coughing violently. This allowed them to take a good look at their visitor. He had short brown hair and wore a long coat. They guessed he was in his late thirties. Other than that, they never met him before. He did look familiar, but maybe he just has one of those faces.

Eventually, he too was done coughing and ready to face Captain Man and Kid Danger. The man lifted his head. He looked around in the Man Cave with excitement.

"Freeze!" Captain Man yelled, "put your hands in the air!" Only when he said that, the man noticed the five people who were staring at him. The man looked at every individual for a second before he completely ignored the hero's order. Instead, he started to laugh out of joy, thrusting his fist into the air.

"Oh, yes!" he shouted, leaving everyone confused, "It worked! Oh, it _actually_ worked! Finally! Schwoz, you're a genius."

"Thank you," Schwoz said. He appreciated it when someone appreciated his intellect, no matter who it was. Ray turned his head and shot a glare in Schwoz's direction before focusing back on the man. He turned his head to the five and shook it.

"N-No, that's not what I… I was talking about another you, the fut—" He interrupted himself, but immediately continued talking. "Say, which month of what year is it? I'm a little disoriented." Ray and Henry looked at one another, wondering what the meaning was of this. Ray nodded, giving Henry permission to tell him.

"It's early September 2016. Why do you want to know?" he added, but his question wouldn't get an answer immediately. The man was too busy cheering for a reason unknown when he heard the date.

"I made it," the man then said, astonished by this accomplishment. "Oh, this is great!" He continued to laugh and look around, even waved at the five confused people who just met him.

Ray couldn't take it anymore. A stranger somehow was able to enter the Man Cave with that pod, whatever it was, sprayed them with some orange gas and was for some reason excited he was in the present. Plus, he called Schwoz a genius. Nobody calls Schwoz a genius.

"What the heck is going on here?" Ray shouted. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" This drew the man's attention. He cleared his throat before speaking.

"I'm sorry for breaking in and everything, but I'm on your side. I really am. I get this is confusing, but I'll try to explain," the man said. He paused, looking at them all, especially at the scared boy watching behind the girl. _I'm not that scary, am I?_ he thought before starting to talk again.

"My names is James and I come from twenty-five years into your future."

* * *

 **Hello** **everyone and welcome to my new Henry Danger story. I've been playing with this idea for a while and I hope you liked this first chapter. It would make me very happy if you'd stick around** **. Also, it may take a while before I update. It'll take at most/least a week, but never longer than two. That's all I had to say, so... until next time!**

 **-Writer207**


	2. The mission

**Hey guys! I guess I'm right on schedule. And some time before the season premier! Either way, here's the second chapter of this story. Hope you like it. It's a bit slow, but necessary. Things'll start to get interesting from next chapter onwards. Until then, here's some more explanation from James the time traveler. Also, keep your eyes open in the archive: who knows, maybe you'll see me post a one-shot one of these days. Before we go to the chapter, here are my replies to your reviews:**

 _CaptainMansBabyGirl:_ _Thanks for reviewing! I'm not going to use Cheyenne in this story. There simply isn't enough room for her. Every character has a purpose in this story, and Cheyenne would be there for the sake of being there. That's not fair for her. I'm sorry, but she doesn't fit into the plot._

 _Guest:_ _I'm glad you like it. Thanks for reviewing!_

 _TNMTGFKittySidekick01:_ _Thanks for reviewing! Glad you like it!_

 _Anomaly90:_ _Well, it'll never take longer than two weeks. That's what I aim for with all my stories, school or not. Thanks for reviewing!_

 **Enjoy!**

 **-Writer207**

* * *

You can already imagine the looks the five were giving the man in the long coat who entered the Man Cave with a pod, claiming to be a time traveler. Ray and Henry had no idea what to think about the situation. Charlotte raised an eyebrow, a little skeptical about the entire situation. Schwoz nodded as he studied the newcomer and the pod he will build in the future. He didn't mind the time traveler being here. Jasper's eyes widened when the man confessed he was from the future.

"You're a time traveler?" he asked and James the time traveler nodded.

"That's right," he answered, "This machine brought me here, but you've probably already noticed that."

"What year are you from?" Charlotte then asked him.

"Well, I am from the year 2041," James said, "It's a great year for the world." He nodded after saying that. Apparently it was, but nobody else could know that. Jasper was more at ease now. He wasn't too scared anymore, started to trust James. The same went for Henry – he felt like he could trust the time traveler for some reason. He also stood normally, stopping with the fighting stance he had assumed when James crawled out of his time machine. Charlotte still was a little skeptical. And then there was Ray.

"Okay, enough!" Ray said, almost yelling it. He looked – no, glared – at James. "You're leaving."

"What?" Jasper said. Ray turned his head.

"He broke into the Man Cave! And for all we know, he's with the Time Jerker. Just look at him. I wouldn't be surprised if they worked together." He turned his head back to James, who had folded his arms and shook his head. He wasn't angry, or sad, but he did look rather disappointed. Not with the situation, but with Ray's attitude.

"One, I can't be working with the Time Jerker, he's been missing for five years," James said, reacting to Ray's criticism, "Two, Schwoz borrowed some of the equipment to make this baby work – no way that I was gonna jump into the head of younger me, that'd just be weird. And three, I've just arrived and I don't plan to leave now."

"Then why did you come?" Ray then asked, trying to stay calm and sort things out without having to shout. "Why are you here?" There was a short silence, in which both parties waited for the response. James eventually took one step closer to them and answered.

"I'm not here for my own amusement, if that's why you think I'm here," he said. "No, I came here with a mission. A mission to rescue Captain Man."

"I'm pretty sure I don't need rescuing," Ray answered.

"I wasn't talking about right now," James said, "It could happen tomorrow, or the day after that. Either way, I will not take longer than a month."

"What are you talking about?" Henry then joined the conversation. "Maybe you should be a little clearer. We have no idea what you're talking about." James opened his mouth to say something in return, but soon closed it.

"Good point," James said, "I'm sorry if things sound weird. Or complicated. Just tell me when you can't understand and I'll explain. Now, where was I…" he paused for a few seconds. Then, he continued, "Oh right, the mission. I have come to make sure Captain Man doesn't quit being a hero." Once the words were spoken, all eyes turned to Ray. James' look was blank, but the others looked at him confused and surprised. They all assumed that Ray had intentions to quit. That was quickly refuted by Captain Man himself, who burst out into laughter. James merely folded his arms and waited for this to end.

Once he was calm enough to respond, he did. "I am Captain Man," he said, "I don't quit."

"You will," James said. he tried to sound as serious as possible to make the man realize it will happen. "And because you quit, the future is in big trouble."

"What's happening in the future?" Henry asked him.

"Swellview is in bigger trouble than ever," James started to explain. "There's a villain controlling this city and other cities, too. The streets are flooded with his goons. I've been told he'll soon have androids fighting for him. Most people are afraid to fight him and the captain and I can't handle it on our own. we need Captain Man to help us." Henry nodded. He tried to picture the future James had described. All he could think of was a post-apocalyptic wasteland version of Swellview crowded with people in black, armed with baseball bats. Not exactly what you'd call 'great'.

"Who's the captain?" Charlotte asked him. Without Captain Man, did anyone else take his mantle? Was the army helping them out in Swellview? James turned his head in her direction before answering.

"It's Kid Danger in the future," James said, carefully picking which words to us, "He chose not to call himself Captain Man to honor him. He's just the captain."

"What is going to happen, then?" Ray eventually asked, finally starting to believe the traveler. Even if he still didn't like the situation, he was curious. "Why will I quit?"

James smiled at him – _Finally!_ – and he spoke. "You'll quit because… because…" James started to frown and the smile disappeared. The others waited for his answer, but instead had to watch him shake his head. "I can't remember."

"You can't remember?" Ray repeated.

"No, I can't remember," James said, "That's weird."

"Let me get things straight," Ray said, "You came here to make sure I don't quit… but you don't know why I'll quit. Maybe Schwoz should've sent someone else." James sighed loudly.

"Look, I knew it when I left. Only when I arrived I forgot and… oh no!" he suddenly yelled out and looked into the 'cockpit' of the time travel machine. The others stared, confused to what James was doing.

"Are you okay?" Charlotte asked him. James shook his head.

"No, I am not," he responded, "There's a feature in here. Don't know why Schwoz put it here, but I'm sure that's what caused me to forget things. I told him not to put it in, but he did it anyway."

"What is it?" Jasper asked him. James turned his head to face Jasper when he spoke.

"Emergency memory wipe. Not just any memories, but anything with me in it. just in case someone who isn't supposed to know things, does know things. It backfired and now I can't remember things like why Captain Man will quit, who the villain is, what he looks like… that and a lot more." He kicked the machine, presumably to let off some steam.

"We'll help you remember," Henry offered, "Schwoz can do it. Right, Schwoz?" The weird little man nodded in agreement. James shook his head when Henry mentioned him.

"No offense, but I don't really trust him right now," James said. "He made me forget a lot. Again, no offense." He repeated it to make sure he and Schwoz were still on good terms. Schwoz didn't feel offended, probably since he realized he could take away someone's memory with something.

"I don't believe him," Ray said. James sighed again.

"You don't believe him?" Henry said, "What's not to believe?"

"Everything!" Ray responded, "If he's from the future, why can't he remember things? He should know things. He came here to help me, but doesn't know in what situation he can help me. He can be lying to us _right now_! Everything he says can be a lie, including his name." James had to be honest, but Ray had a point. With everything he had told them and couldn't tell them because of memory loss, it did look suspicious. Luckily, there always was proof to be given.

"I never thought I'd say this, but Captain Man, you are wrong. You can trust me. And I can prove it." Then, he took something out of his pocket and tossed it at Henry. He was just able to catch it. Both the hero and his sidekick looked at the small black item Henry was holding. Charlotte, Jasper and. Their eyes widened when they recognized the design.

Ray looked up from the familiar item and looked at James, who was amused by the situation. "How?" he wondered out loud.

"I got it from an old friend," James said, "A birthday present."

"But it's a whiz-watch!" Ray said, using a certain tone suggesting he couldn't believe his eyes. There was a good reason for it, since it was rather hard to get this model when you're not part of Captain Man's crime-fighting unit.

"No," Henry then said, not taking his eyes off of the whiz-watch. "It's mine." Ray took a closer look when Henry said that. He had to be honest, it _was_ Henry's whiz-watch. They looked for the details and knew it was that same watch, along with the small additions Henry had made, but twenty-five years older. Henry looked up at James. "How did you get this?"

"You gave it to me," James answered. Henry stared at him, dumb-founded, "A birthday present. You wanted to keep contact. It's dangerous to call someone, with the villain controlling all communication, so this was the easiest was for us to keep in touch." It was clear for Schwoz, Charlotte, Jasper and Henry – James was a time traveler and here to help. Ray, on the other hand, still wasn't too convinced.

"He could've stolen it," Ray said. not that he didn't believe James, he just wanted to justify seeing that whiz-watch. By now, James was fed up with Ray's hostile attitude. He knew he didn't truly mean it, but it still hurt him to know Captain Man didn't want him around. So, he had to make him trust. And he knew how to make Ray trust him.

"I've got a feeling that you don't want to trust me," James said. He folded his arms, "How can you even trust, with such a secret to keep? Let me tell you, there won't be any secrets around here. After all, trust does include sharing names." Ray's eyes widened once he realized what James was going to do. Before he could stop it, James continued talking. "I am James Ryan. And you are Jasper Dunlop, Schwoz Schwartz and Charlotte Bolton. And then there's Kid Danger and Captain Man, or should I say: Henry Hart and Ray Manchester?"

Ray's jaw dropped, as did everyone else's. Jasper gasped loudly, never having expected to hear Captain Man's real name. Silence fell and it didn't disappear for a while.

"Well…" Schwoz eventually said, "That was unexpected."

"What the…" Ray said, unable to finish his sentences, "How did you… Will Henry…"

"Henry's a loyal sidekick, he never told anyone," James assured Ray. "Please, Captain Man. I only wish to stay until you quit. Our cooperation will be better if you believed me." There was a short silence, in which Ray and James looked at each other.

"I believe you." Everyone turned their head to Charlotte who had spoken those words. Ray exclaimed her name as a first reaction. James sighed again, though for the first time, it was out of relief.

"Thank you," he said and she nodded at him.

"He seems trustworthy." Everyone's attention shifted from Charlotte to Jasper, who felt the need to go stand behind Charlotte again. He wasn't used to this kind of attention. It didn't help that Ray said 'you too?' in a not-so-friendly way.

"Ray." Ray turned his head to Henry, who had folded his arms. "Does he look dangerous?" Ray took another good look at the time traveler. He just waited for the hero and his sidekick to decide whether he was dangerous, hands in his pocket and staring at the hero. After a while, Ray sighed. No, he didn't look dangerous, but he did look curious.

"You know," James then said, "you can't force me to leave."

Ray groaned. "Fine! You can stay." When James heard the news, a grin spread on his ace and James jumped up like an excited little kid. If they didn't know him better – and as an adult – they'd think he truly was a child.

"Thanks, Captain Man! Thank you so much," James said, "You won't regret this, I swear. You just wait, I'll be your lifesaver." Eventually, he contained himself after taking a deep breath. Nobody spoke before he had calmed down.

"But you leave when you stopped me from quitting. Okay?" Ray said and James nodded.

"That's always the plan." He extended his hand to him. Ray looked at it for a while before grabbing it and shaking it.

James smiled. _Time to save Captain Man._


	3. June

**Hey guys! Me again. I've found the first episodes (I don't live in the USA, so I never can watch it right away) and I guess this story is now officially AU. But that's not bad. It won't change anything, but events from season three won't be referenced since they technically didn't happen. Anyway, y'all probably want to read the chapter, so here it is (after my responses to your reviews):**

 _Anomaly90:_ _Thanks for reviewing! Things might get slower in the future - I've got some other stories to write and I'm currently in college. Though I'll always update as fast as possible (within two weeks). Yeah, that one... Still don't know where the idea for that story came from. You'll get the answer to that question in about ten chapters, more or less. Reviews make me write quicker, too! The more there are, the more I want to write the next chapter._

 _CaptainMansBabyGirl:_ _If I understand you correctly, you're telling me her purpose is being his daughter. My definition of a character's purpose is that they're doing something important to the plot. Everyone from the previous chapter, as well as our mystery woman, is doing important things to move the plot forward. I can't find a way to include her. I've started writing and I know where I want to go and what is going to happen to the smallest details. The story fits perfectly without her - she'd just be an extra in terms of type of character, and that's not fair for her. If it makes you happy, you can pretend she exists, but is on a vacation. You know I don't want to upset you, or anyone else here for that matter. Thanks for reviewing!_

 _TMNTGFKittySidekick01:_ _Thanks for reviewing! Well, James needs some proof that they (/their future selves) trust him, and that was one way to do it._

 **Enjoy!**

 **-Writer207**

* * *

That evening, they showed James where he would be staying. Nothing else happened that evening, though James explored the Man cave on his own. It was like he's been there before, Ray noticed. He knew where to find the bathroom without asking him. He thought of it as odd and confronted James with it, but according to the time traveler, it was just a coincidence. He didn't dig deeper than that, as he had better things to do than figure out why James knew where the bathroom was.

The next day, when school was already done and Henry, Jasper and Charlotte were still on their way to the store, Ray was upstairs and looking after the counter. Someone had to do it. He didn't trust Schwoz enough to be there and Gooch was on vacation for a month. Besides, who else could be more qualified than the actual owner of the shop?

It had been a quiet day. Not too many customers and no criminal activity today up until that moment. He thought about taking a break when the woman with the black hair from yesterday walked through the door. He looked up, rather surprised, and walked closer to her while she came closer to him.

"Hey!" she said, wearing the brightest smile on her face.

"Hey!" Ray greeted her, "You're back." The woman nodded.

"You say that as if you weren't expecting me to show up." Ray didn't immediately answer, because it was true. He never really expects any customer to come back after the first time. Even then, they just avoided the shop after the second time inside. The woman knew what the awkward silence meant. And if she didn't, the look on Ray's face gave it away. Her smile faded. "You seriously thought I wouldn't come back."

Ray sighed and nodded. "Most people don't come back. This place is just junk. And stuff." He felt like adding the two last words, just for the sake of the pun. Fortunately, the woman liked it and her smile reappeared.

"I figured," she said, "But it's really cool junk. I mean, a dino head spewing fire when the door opens – that's cool." Ray's grin grew even wider.

"I know, right?" They both laughed and when the laughter faded away, they stood in silence for a short while. Ray couldn't keep his mouth shut and just asked her things to keep the conversation rolling.

"So…" he began, "where does the interest come from?"

"My dad used to own a junk yard," the woman explained, "Me and my brother always looked through it in the weekends with dad. He always told us every object we saw had a story. Like these boxing gloves," she picked up the pair of boxing gloves from one of the shelves next to her. She held them up in the air. "Who knows, maybe an old forgotten boxing star used these and won the match. Or a jealous man beat up his ex-wife's new boyfriend with them. You never know what people do with all these things. What about you?" Ray blinked once before pointing at himself.

"Me?" he said and the woman nodded, taking one step closer to him.

"Yeah, you," she said, "What gave you the idea to open a shop like this?" Ray was taken aback by the question. Nobody ever asked him why. He had to earn money somehow – his father wouldn't always be there to fund him and his secret lair. That job could provide the money he might need in the future.

"I don't know," he said after a while, "The idea just came to me. I mean, who doesn't need straws or binoculars every once in a while? And they can always come to me to buy it!"

"That's really clever," the woman said, nodding. Ray placed his hand on the counter after walking closer to it. The woman followed him

"I don't sell much, but it's enough to live from. But who needs more than what we actually need?"

"I couldn't agree more," she said, taking another step closer to him. They now stood face to face, even if she was a few inches smaller than him. There was an estimated distance of one yard between the two. Who knows what might have happened there if the woman's phone hadn't gone off.

She took the phone in her hand and looked at the incoming message. Her facial expression changed. "Dang it!" she said as she put the phone away. She then looked at Ray with a sad expression in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I can't stay any longer." She turned around and was already walking to the door when Ray found his voice again after hearing the woman say this.

"What?" he asked, "Why not?"

"It's my brother," she said, "I've got to go buy groceries for him." Ray frowned, confused.

"Can't he do it himself?" he said harshly. As far as he knew, that brother seemed a little possessive and dominant when it came to his sister. She had to go him up, she had to buy his groceries. Ray may overreact a little. He did base what he thought to be her brother's character off of what he sent her in text messages.

She didn't seem too happy with his comment, but wasn't angry with him either. Just really disappointed "You don't know him," she said, "He was a normal man until he had an accident. Walked over street, a car hit him. Ever since then, he stays indoors unless there's no other way. He's very terrified of traffic now. He took the bus yesterday to come here, which makes him exceptionally brave. Sometimes, it's rather annoying, but I've got to help him until he's better. If it had been me, he would do the same."

After the explanation, Ray could only nod. He felt slightly embarrassed. If he had known, he wouldn't have let it sound so harsh. Yet now he knew, he could take it into account.

"I'm sorry, I understand," he said, and pointed at the door, "You go help your brother." She smiled at him as a way to thank him for his understanding. She then walked to the door and once she had walked up the small stairs, she turned back to him.

"I'm June, by the way. And you?"

"I'm Ray," he stammered.

"Well then, Ray, see you next time." She turned her back to him, but decided against it. She took out a notebook and a pen and wrote something down. Once she was done, she came closer to Ray again and handed him the paper.

"Here," she said and he looked at it. It was a phone number. "You might need it." Once Ray read the numbers and figured out it was her number, he borrowed her notebook and pen. He wrote down his own number as neatly as possible. "Just in case," he added while he gave her back her stuff. She smiled as she read it.

"Thanks," June said, "See you next time, Ray."

"Bye," he said as she walked out of the shop. He couldn't wipe that grin off of his face and sat behind the counter again. He sat there for fifteen minutes, filled with boredom and the thought of June. Only after those fifteen minutes, the three teenagers arrived.

"Hey guys," Ray greeted them. Charlotte was the only one who looked normal, with whom nothing was going on at the moment. The same couldn't be said about the boys. Henry was irritated and there was a grimace on his face. Not even a good joke might make him laugh again. Jasper, for whatever reason, was happier than usual. There was a dreamy look in his eyes and for the first time, he seemed to ignore Ray and went straight to the elevator to go down. Ray followed Jasper with his eyes until he was out of sight – it was so hard _not_ to look at the weird kid when he acted like that – and then looked at Charlotte and Henry. They stayed around for a while.

"What's wrong with him?" he asked.

"He's in love," Charlotte answered the question. Ray looked confused at Henry until he realized she was talking about Jasper. What did he care how that boy felt?

"I meant Henry," he said and looked at the kid. Henry was restlessly walking around the room with a certain expression on his face in combination with the irritation. Ray knew that walk – Henry was thinking about something he needed the answer of.

Charlotte glanced at Henry before answering, "He's having a bad day."

"Oh, it's more than just a bad day!" Henry said, almost shouted the words. Ray raised an eyebrow and leaned on the desk, closer to them.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Henry quickly said. Ray then looked from Henry to Charlotte, from whom he expected an answer. She didn't disappoint.

"Someone at school discovered super embarrassing about him. Everyone knows now and they all laugh at him."

"Charlotte!" Henry exclaimed, now glaring at the girl. She shot him a look and Ray straightened his back.

"She hasn't told me what it is," Ray said to defend her. All he now knew was that someone discovered something embarrassing about Henry and that the entire school knew about it. It probably wasn't this big secret, but something Henry really didn't want anyone to know.

 _Well, what is so embarrassing for him anyway_? He turned to Charlotte. "What is it?"

"Ray!" Henry exclaimed again, but he was ignored this time. Ray's attention was fixed onto Charlotte. Fortunately, she shook her head.

"I'm not telling."

"Dang it!" Ray then exclaimed. He would've really liked to know. Well, if she wasn't telling, he wouldn't be asking anymore. He had this one chance, but they wouldn't tell him. Maybe it was for the better anyway – knowing himself, he probably would definitely bring it up whenever he had the chance and looking at Henry, he knew the kid couldn't appreciate it.

To clear their minds and make them do something useful he told them to help him reorganize the store a little and clean up some of the messes made, as well as making sure all the junk had the best quality possible for what it was worth. They did as they were told and soon, they'd forgotten about what happened in school just a little. The focus on the stuff made them think less of the past school day, which apparently had been far from ideal. Everything went fine and Henry even seemed to loosen up a bit about what happened.

But then Schwoz called them down – a criminal was wreaking havoc and they had to be downstairs to see who it was. Schwoz only knew about a criminal, nothing else, but he'd tell them once they were downstairs. So the trio walked into the elevator and went downstairs.


	4. Of love and chances

**Okay, here I am again with the newest chapter of this story! It's time for some more James and Jasper, because they need more page time. Well, they're important, so they deserve the attention. Either way, here are my replies to your reviews and then, the chapter:**

 _CaptainMansBabyGirl:_ _Thanks for reviewing! She is not going to appear in this story. For reasons, see my previous responses._

 _Anomaly90:_ _Thanks! Yes, I live in a country where they don't speak English. I started writing in English when I was about thirteen/fourteen. I've had lots of practice. Thanks for reviewing!_

 _TMNTGFKittySidekick01:_ _Thanks for reviewing! I know, right? So cute! Here's the next chapter._

 **Enjoy!**

 **-Writer207**

* * *

While Ray tried to figure out what Henry desperately tried to hide from him, Jasper had gone downstairs with the elevator. He was terrified as always, but couldn't find it in himself to scream this time. It must be the distraction, the beautiful girl he'd seen earlier that day.

The doors of the elevator slid open. Jasper got up and walked inside the Man Cave. Schwoz was sitting in front of the screen, catching up on one of the many series he was following. James was there, too, trying to fix a small problem of the pod.

"Hey Jasper," James greeted him. Jasper said 'hi' back before sitting down in the couch. James couldn't help but watch Jasper sit there with that grin on his face.

"You look happy today," James said. He put the screwdriver on the table and folded his arms, looking at the boy. "Something tells me you're either very satisfied or very much in love."

Jasper's mouth fell open and stared at James. "How do you know that?" he asked.

"I'm psychic," James said with a suggestive smile. Jasper's eyes widened even more, if that was possible.

"Really?" he asked.

"Nah, I'm just good with people," James then said. Jasper was a bit – how cool would it be to have a psychic as a friend? – but got over it rather quickly.

"So, who's the lucky girl?" James then asked him. Jasper looked sad, indecisive.

"I don't know…" he said, trailing off. James looked at him expectantly.

"Don't know about telling me?" the time traveler suggested. Jasper shook his head.

"No," he said, "I don't know her name." James nodded, pressing his lips.

"Yeah, that's gonna be an issue," he said, "But you definitely know what she looks like, right?" James really shouldn't ask, but he was very curious. He wanted to know everything. When he did, it would be easier for him to anticipate when Ray would be leaving the Man Cave for good. And, yes, that did include asking Jasper about his love life.

"She's pretty," Jasper said. James shook his head.

"That won't do, kid. I need details." Jasper nodded and immediately continued talking.

"She's so sweet," he said, with a dreamy look in his eyes. He was imagining her smiling at him. "She has brown hair and a nice dress and the brightest smile! She's perfect." Jasper sighed. James joined him and sighed as well for an unknown reason. Then, Jasper realized what he was doing.

"Wait," he said, "why am I telling you this?"

"Because nobody else wants to listen?" James suggested, and Jasper's mouth fell open. That was exactly one of the reasons why he was telling the time traveler about the girl of his dreams. "Again, I'm really good with people."

James placed a hand on Jasper's shoulder. "If you want something off your chest, whatever it is and whenever you want to talk about it, come to me. I'll always listen. That's a promise." Jasper gave him a big smile, thanking him for it. Not many people wanted to listen to him talking about anything. It was nice to have someone to talk to.

"So," James started talking again, rubbing his hands, "If I were you, I'd just go and talk to her. No need to hide your nervousness. Just introduce yourself the way you are. It worked for me." Jasper nodded, taking in the advice. James picked up the screwdriver again, ready to get back to work. Jasper wanted to ask him whether he should hide his sweaty hands or not when he paid closer attention to that last phrase.

"Are you married?" Jasper asked. James turned back to Jasper, a confused expression on his face.

"I beg your pardon?" he said.

"You said it worked for you," the boy said, "So are you married?" James waited a while to answer his question, thinking about it. Some might say it took him too long to find the right answer to the question.

"Yes, I am," James said, determined. He didn't look at Jasper when he gave him the answer, instead opted to look at the wall. When he turned his head, Jasper was still looking at him expectantly. "Now you want details, right?" he asked the boy, who nodded his head. James smiled.

"Fine!" he said, " She's… the nicest woman in the world. She's… compassionate, nice, brave, not prejudiced. She's… I wouldn't have wanted anyone else. I never have." While he was speaking, he hesitated and paused a couple of times, carefully picking his words or choosing to express what he wanted to say in a different way. By the time he'd stopped talking, the smile had disappeared and there was only a sad expression on his face.

Jasper frowned. "Is there something wrong?"

"No," James replied too quickly. Jasper folded his arms.

"Something's bothering you," he said. James turned his head to the boy.

"How do _you_ know that?" he asked him.

"I don't know," Jasper admitted, "It just looks like you're upset about something." James waited a little, thinking about what to say. Eventually, the time traveler shook his head.

"Nothing's wrong," he said, forcing a (fake) smile on his face, "I'm having a good life, a wonderful life, a fantastic life. A happy life. Our lives are far from perfect, but we have each other. Just me and my wife against the world. And frankly, each other's all we need to be happy." He spoke slower than usual, taking his time to pronounce each word and get lost in the moment or a lost memory.

The red light and blaring of sirens alerted them of villain activity. They simultaneously turned their heads to Schwoz, who had gone from inactive to furiously pressing buttons and flipping switches.

"A villain!" Jasper shouted enthusiastically. James shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not. The alarm doesn't always mean there's a villain," he explained. They walked closer. At the same time, Henry, Ray and Charlotte came downstairs, running out of the elevator. Charlotte came closer to them while Ray and Henry stayed in the middle of the room, ready to pop a bubble.

"Who is it?" Ray asked. After some more button-pressing, the face of the criminal they were going to face that night appeared on the screen. There came a collective groan from everyone, except Jasper.

"What is it?" he asked, wondering why they were groaning after seeing the picture.

"It's Jeff," James said, "You met him once. You were pretending to be Kid Danger to impress a girl, remember? That's him. He is not very bright." Jasper frowned – something about that explanation somehow didn't really make sense.

"What's he doing?" Ray asked Schwoz, and Jasper forgot about what could be wrong.

"He's in the library," Schwoz said, "Apparently, he's tearing pages out of several Young Adult novels."

"Can you see which ones?" Henry wanted to know. The four at the screen took a closer look at the security feed, but its quality wasn't the best. Jeff was indeed at the Swellview Library and was standing at the part where they stored the YA novels. Right now, he was taking his time destroying those books. He didn't seem to be in that big of a hurry.

"No, not really," Charlotte answered Henry question, "We can only see him tearing books apart." Ray and Henry blew their bubbles and not much later, Captain Man and Kid Danger were ready to go catch that stupid criminal.

"Alright," Captain Man said, "Let's go to the library."

"Huh," Kid Danger said, "never thought I'd go there." As if he'd ever go there out of free will. Maybe if Charlotte dragged him there, otherwise he'd never take a step inside the building.

"Can I come with you?" Jasper asked quickly and enthusiastically, before the hero and the sidekick could go. Even without looking at one another, they both agreed to the answer.

"No," Captain Man said. It sounded a bit harsh, but they were in a hurry and things had to go quick.

"But—" Jasper began again, but Kid Danger interrupted him.

"Jasper," he said, "It isn't safe." Jasper's facial expression changed.

"But it's Jeff!" he exclaimed.

"I know," Kid Danger said, "but it still can turn out to be dangerous. You can't come with us." Jasper let his shoulders hang and looked rather sad.

"Fine," he said, not looking at his best friend this time, "I'll stay here."

"I'm sorry, Jasper," Kid Danger said one more time before he joined Captain Man again. Before anyone could say anything else, the hero and his sidekick walked to the tubes. After saying the right words, they were on their way to the library. As soon as they were out of sight, James turned to Jasper.

"Don't worry, Jasper," he said, "One day, you'll be allowed to go with them."

"Are you sure?" Jasper asked him and James nodded.

"One hundred percent," he said, "I've seen it happen in front of me. One day, they're gonna beg you to help them."

"Yes!" Jasper cheered. Charlotte folded her arms, glaring at James and Schwoz continued to watch how Jeff destroyed YA novels.

"Unfortunately," James continued, drawing Jasper's attention again, "that's not today or this week. Be patient. You'll get your chance." Jasper nodded. He then had to go home – his mother wanted him to. Something about a family gathering, which had been a fixed date for months. There was no way Jasper could stay in the Man Cave. "See ya tomorrow," James said. Jasper took the elevator upstairs.

As soon as the elevator doors slid closed, Charlotte turned to James, arms folded and scowling at him. "Don't get his hopes up!" she told him. James frowned, folding his arms.

"I'm not getting his hopes up," he said, "I'm only telling him what will happen in the future." _God, I forgot how scary you can be._ He didn't dare to say those words out loud.

"So they'll want Jasper's help?" she said, sounding a bit skeptical. Because, well, Jasper wasn't really fit to help them.

"Off course," James said, "He'll evolve in a positive way, y'know. It's not like he'll stay like this forever. People change." Then, he walked away from her, in the direction of the tubes. Charlotte frowned.

"Where are you going?" she wondered.

"To the library," he answered. "I gotta be there."

"It's just Jeff," she said, and James nodded.

"I know it's just him," James said. He stood on the right spot and the tube came down. "But whatever happens there, can influence Captain Man's departure. I have to go. Besides, can't stay if I wanted to. I am part of the team, I gotta go."

"What!?" Charlotte exclaimed. James nodded.

"Well, I will be," James explained, "timelines… tricky to explain. Younger me isn't part of the team yet, he's somewhere out there. Older me – just me here, in the tube – is part of the Man Team. Look, I don't have the time to talk," he said when Charlotte opened her mouth again, " Right now, I have to go. I am not going to let them go in alone, not when I can change the future. Up the tube!" He looked up when the tube lifted him from the ground and out of the Man Cave, away to the library.

Charlotte wanted to ask him more, but she couldn't – James was already gone. She then decided to write down all questions she had for the time traveler, so she could ask them at a later time, when they both didn't have anything to do. Who knows, maybe she'd discover something she wouldn't have known otherwise.


	5. Just Jeff

**Hello and happy Halloween! What better time is there to update a story then on Halloween? Okay, there won't be anything/much Halloween related, but at least you'll get to know whether Jeff resists being captured or not. who knows, there might be something spooky/scary in this chapter after all.** **But first, I'm going to reply to your reviews:**

 _Shonashee:_ _Thanks for reviewing! I try to write without any filler, though sometimes it is inevitable. That's a good guess, but you'll have to wait a little longer to know whether you guessed right or not. As for the plot, I can tell you that you're correct. You'll read later what exactly ties them together._ _I can understand your worries about OCs, but I promise you none of my OCs are or will ever be self-inserts/Mary Sues. If they weren't important, they wouldn't show up in this story or anywhere else for that matter._

 _Anomaly90:_ _I've had a lot of practice writing and improving my English. And, yes, you'll probably always have to wait a week or two before the update. Gives me enough time to write the next chapter. Thanks for reviewing!_

 _CaptainMansBabygirl:_ _Thanks for reviewing! Here's the next chapter._

 _Writer 001:_ _Here's more of them. The longest you'll ever have to wait for an update is two weeks. Thanks for reviewing!_

 _TNMTGFKittySidekick01: Thanks for reviewing! It's okay, it can always take a little longer sometimes. Here is the update!_

 **Enjoy!**

 **-Writer207**

* * *

It was dead quiet in the library that evening. The only sound that could be heard was the pages from certain books, ripped out. Jeff had already ruined several copies of different books when he grabbed a new one. He barely heard the footsteps coming closer, but he did notice how the hero and his sidekick were coming closer to him. He watched them in the corner of his eyes, not looking at them immediately.

"Hey, Jeff!" Kid danger called out for him. Only then, the criminal ceased to rip out those pages. With the book still in his hands, he turned to the hero and the sidekick.

"Captain Man and Kid Danger," he said, in a way of greeting them.

"Put down the book," Kid Danger said in a demanding tone. Jeff did not obey that order immediately.

"Why are you even doing it?" Captain Man asked him, just wondering what there would be to gain by destroying books. Jeff held up the book and pointed at it.

"Nothing realistic ever happens in there," he said. He then put that book back on the shelf where he found it. Without waiting for the two, he bent over and grabbed the bent cover of one of the first books he'd ruined. With the cover in his hand, he continued to talk at Captain Man and Kid Danger. "Like this," he said, "Actual wizards do not exist."

"That is not a reason to break the law," the hero told him. He had no idea whether a law existed about destroying/ruining books or tearing down the pages, but he wouldn't be surprised if one existed. Jeff merely shrugged.

"Enough reason for me," he said.

"Let's get him," Kid Danger said after one short, nearly audible sigh. Captain Man and Kid Danger came closer to the criminal, who turned around and tried to run. It seemed the act of destroying books had tired him too much, since he got no further away than ten feet. While he was still panting and puffing, Captain Man and Kid Danger walked closer. Captain Man grabbed his arm.

"Hey, be careful!" Jeff said, even if it was just a complaint. This would be just the next time he was arrested, and he'd be back on the street before he knew it. He'd always get out of prison, whether Captain Man put him there or not. He was about to be taken away when someone else made his presence in the library clear.

"I'm here," the new voice said. The three turned their heads right on time to see how James walked around the corner, going straight for them. Or, well, as straight as it could. He was constantly looking around, as if he was searching for a hidden camera. He even walked a bit backwards. Henry and Ray looked at one another, both wondering what he was doing here, while Jeff was just surprised to see a new face without a mask. "Did anything bad happen here?" James asked them when he was close enough for them to hear it.

"What are you doing here?" Henry asked, voicing what he and Ray were thinking.

"Making sure nothing bad happens here," James responded and he turned his head to the superhero. "Wouldn't want you to quit." Ray groaned loudly.

"Are you gonna quit?" Jeff then asked him. Captain Man shook his head, not liking where this could potentially go.

"No, I'm not!" he told the criminal, then turned back to the time traveler. "James, I'm not."

James shook his head. "I think you meant to say 'not yet'," he said, shrugging at the hero. "At one point, you will be gone and I just can't let that happen." Ray sighed again, rolling his eyes and turning his back to James. He clearly was annoyed with about everything James was doing.

"C'mon," Henry said, "he's just trying to help."

"Thanks, kid," James said with a smile, putting a hand on Henry's shoulder. He turned to Ray, using his other hand to point at the sidekick. "See? He still believes in me."

"Have I seen you before?" the three turned their heads to Jeff, who was looking at James with a quizzical expression on his face. James smiled, nervously.

"I don't think so," he said, almost mechanically, as if he'd been practicing that line in front of the mirror, "I'm very new around here."

Jeff continued to stare at James, but eventually just shrugged it off. "Weird," he commented, "You look rather familiar."

"I have one of those faces," he said, clasping his now sweaty hands together, definitely ready to talk about something – anything but how familiar he may look to a villain. Henry took a closer look at James' face and posture and then he, too, started to wonder where he could have seen James before. Maybe he was going to the same school as the younger James. Maybe he's spotted a young James in the crowd whenever Kid Danger and Captain Man attended public events.

"James, nothing bad's gonna happen," Captain Man said again, pointing at the villain. "It's just Jeff. And we have already stopped him. What's he gonna do, make me eat the pages he's ripped out?" James sighed deeply, making his hands into fists. No second later, he relaxed again and the fists disappeared. He turned his head back to Captain Man.

"I am not talking about Jeff," he said, pronouncing each word individually, "I'm talking about the generals dangers around us. You know, the usual things which can end your career. Like, the environment, traps, social manipulation…"

"Really?" Captain Man asked him with a raised eyebrow. Social manipulation… he's too worried about nothing important. James nodded with a lot of determination.

"Anything can happen," he said, looking the superhero in the eyes.

"You're right." James' eyes widened when he heard Ray say that. "And what's going to happen now, is that we're going to bring Jeff to jail and then we're going home." He used a certain tone, as if to mock the situation. James did not like that tone. He thought about those words while Captain Man made Jeff walk away with him, pulling him away from the sidekick and the time traveler.

"But you're in big danger!" James said, almost exclaimed. He started to sound rather desperate. "You don't know how big the risk is, or what the consequences will be if I don't get a chance to—"

"James." The time traveler turned his head to Henry. He looked rather sad, though the reason why he would be was unclear. Henry took one step in his direction. "Relax. We're fine. We can handle it. If you want to, I can keep an eye out when we're fighting crime." James let his gaze look around the room first, giving him time to think before he eventually looked back at the sidekick and nodded.

"That'd be nice," he said, sounding calmer than before, "But don't forget even the smallest detail, okay? If you notice anything weird, you tell me." Henry nodded.

"Sure," he said, and finally James could breathe in relief. There was no excuse anymore for him to go on these trips anymore, but at least Henry would keep an eye out for him. You never know what could happen, even if it's 'just Jeff'.

"Kid!" Captain Man said. They then noticed the hero had already reached the door and was now looking at his sidekick. "Can you help me? I think I dropped something."

"Coming," he said, then turned his head back to James. "I'll go help him, you go back to the Man Cave." James nodded in response.

"Okay," he said. He watched how Henry and Ray walked out of the room, leaving the library to bring Jeff to his cell in prison. But James didn't immediately go back to the Man Cave. No, he stayed around to take a closer look at everything in a twenty feet radius from the crime scene. You can never be too cautious.

He started with looking at the books Jeff had torn apart. When he read the titles, James could barely believe his eyes. He started to wonder whether Jeff had picked those titles on purpose, or whether this just was a pure coincidence. There were pages from the third Potter book lying on the ground. He read many fragments from Margaret Peterson Haddix's works. The cover from 'Night Watch' by Terry Pratchett was laying on the ground. What were the odds that all those books were lying around here? Maybe Jeff chose them at random. Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was Time itself telling him not to mess with what is supposed to happen. And he couldn't see Jeff ripping out pages of books just because they weren't realistic enough.

He eventually let it be and turned away from the ripped-out pages. He walked around the perimeter, looking for anything that could have possibly be harmful. Yet, he found nothing of interest there, and then decided to go home.

He still was worried, though, and had the feeling this would end badly.


	6. There is no problem

**Hey guys! I'm back with the next chapter! Not much is going to happen, but I'm sure it'll still be entertaining. But before we go to the chapter, let's respond to your reviews:**

 _Anomaly90:_ _Thanks for reviewing! Well, here it is!_

 _CaptainMansBabyGirl:_ _Like I said before, I am not going to add her in this story, not even if you keep insisting in every review. For reasons, see my responses to your reviews in chapter 2 and 3. Thanks for reviewing!_

 _Shonashee:_ _Thanks for reviewing! You are quite perceptive - I like that. Jeff recognizes James, but I don't think he'll make the connection with younger James. It's Jeff, after all. Yes, I know. I am working on that - it's one of the big things I'm struggling with. It's_ _not always easy to do, but I am trying. Thanks for the tip! I think it'll be around fifteen chapters. Maybe more, maybe less._

 **Enjoy!**

 **-Writer207**

* * *

Last night was exciting compared to this new day. James liked it – he never was a man of action, anyway. He spent most of it on catching up on the news (he didn't want to give spoilers) and trying to figure out what was wrong with his time machine. It was a slow work, but he knew he would destroy the machine if he worked too fast. After all these years, he still wasn't very good at building or repairing machinery. Future Schwoz was the one that made the time machine.

The day may still have been pleasant if Ray hadn't been hanging out in the Man Cave for as long as James was there. The superhero was doing what he usually did: taking care of the store, or waiting for criminals to stop. But today Gooch was upstairs in the store and Ray was spending his time in the Man Cave not so silently.

Ray re-entered the Man Cave, phone to his ear. James groaned. _When will it stop?_ Ray had left ten minutes ago, when he first picked up the phone and went to get something in another room. Now he was back, James shook his head and decided to focus on the machine to see what went wrong. It didn't stop Ray from talking to the woman he met in the shop.

"How is he?" Ray asked her, when he entered the main room. There was a big smile on his face and he seemed to radiate happiness _. Let it be, he might leave soon_. James did not like to be interrupted when he was doing something as important as this.

Ray didn't stop soon, though. "Oh, good to hear… No, really? Well, you really should tell him to get over it… In a nice way, off course… True. But enough about your brother. What do you like, what don't you like? What are your hobbies?" And he continued like that, barely noticing James was working and trying to concentrate. James tried not to show any annoyance – he still didn't know what would drive Captain Man away from heroism.

After a while, Schwoz walked into the room. Only James noticed him enter, but the time traveler didn't spend too much time looking at the weird little man. He was too preoccupied with his time machine. Schwoz walked towards his boss, giving James the chance to continue his work. He couldn't help but overhear the short conversation between boss and employee.

"Hey, Ray—"

"Not now, Schwoz." He shot an irritated look at the mechanic and took a few steps away from him. The irritated look disappeared as soon as he resumed his conversation with the woman. "No, that was an employee," he said, "Nobody important."

James turned his head to watch the scene. Ray stood with his back turned to Schwoz, who was deeply offended. He did build the Man Cave and designed countless of the gadgets. Without him, Captain Man wouldn't be nearly as successful as he was now. James shook his head in disapproval. Ray may have been lying or tried to present the situation in his lair as unimportant for the woman. It still isn't right to minimize the role someone plays.

Schwoz took a step in Ray's direction when she shock had worn off. "Ray, it's important."

"Ask James for help," Ray said and he walked away from Schwoz. He walked as fast as he could to the elevator and into it. There weren't a lot of customers at this hour, so Ray could continue the conversation without being interrupted. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that," he told the woman when the elevator door slid shut.

James watched the scene unfold. He leaned against the time machine before he turned to Schwoz. "Wow," he said, "That was unfriendly."

Schwoz folded his arms. There was an angry look in his eyes as he stared at the elevator. "He doesn't want to be interrupted," he said, sounding rather annoyed, "He's been on the phone for half an hour already!" James frowned.

"So?" _Is it such a bad thing?_ He remembered having lengthy calls with his wife – then his girlfriend – when he was younger. Those calls usually ended up being longer than half an hour.

"He's never been on the phone that long," Schwoz then said.

James' eyes widened. "Oh," he said in realization. He glanced at the elevator doors again. _Is this it?_ Could this be the start of him leaving? People have quit being a hero before because of love. James never would've guessed love could be one of the reasons.

"On the bright side," James eventually said, "at least he's talking to someone who likes him for Ray and not for the superhero." He stood back on his feet and got ready to continue the job.

"What are you doing?" Schwoz asked him when he was about to climb back into the pod. He stopped in his tracks when Schwoz asked him the question. He opened his mouth, but soon closed it again. What _was_ he doing actually? _Ruining the time machine while trying to fix it,_ he thought.

"I really have no idea," James said honestly. "I'm just tinkering without knowing what I'm doing. Remember what I've said the first day?"

"No," Schwoz responded, shaking his head.

"There's an emergency memory wipe built into this thing," James explained, "Now I am trying to figure out where it is and how I can reverse it."

"Can I help?" Schwoz asked him. A doubtful expression appeared on James' face.

"I don't know…"

"Why?" Schwoz then asked him, frowning. He has no idea. It would be him to build this machine. Would this make him want to build a time machine sooner? This decision will affect the future, but how much could this change what he knew?

On the other side, James really wanted to know why the gas could even enter the cockpit. Eventually, James shrugged.

"Oh, what the heck," he said, "Why not? C'mon, Schwoz – grab a tool and help me out."

Schwoz got a big smile on his face and he grabbed a screwdriver. "What are we looking for?"

"I don't know," James replied, "Maybe a grid." Together, they carefully inspected the time machine, trying not to take it apart too much – James still had to use it to go back home. They could work for a long time, since Ray did not come back down.

After a while, Schwoz climbed inside the cockpit. No ten minutes later, his head came out of it. "I've found the problem!"

"What is it?" Finally he would know what went wrong with the pod and what kind of mistake the Future Schwoz made when he built it.

"There is no problem," Schwoz said. James blinked once and only reacted after he'd fully processed the words the weird little man had said.

"What?" he eventually said, "But there is a problem. You saw gas leaking in the pod. That wasn't supposed to happen."

Schwoz simply shrugged. "Maybe it was."

James shook his head. "No, it was not." That orange gas was supposed to be released in the air for everyone to breathe in, but it never was meant to affect James, too. He already noticed what the consequences are.

"Then you shouldn't have built this grid into the cockpit," Schwoz said. James climbed on it, but didn't get inside the cockpit – he'd crush Schwoz if he did. He looked at what Schwoz was pointing at. It was a small circular roster James had seen before. For air, future Schwoz had told him, just in case he was stuck in there. Through that small vent, the orange gas found a way inside the cockpit, creating a new problem for James.

"Thanks for the help," James said. He climbed down so Schwoz could get out of it as well. Schwoz walked out of the room, to continue whatever he had been doing. James stayed behind with the time machine. He turned his hands into fists and wanted to kick the machine, but restrained himself – he'd only hurt his foot and toes.

"Calm down," he said, "You'll get them back. You'll get them back." James walked away from the time machine and went to look for pen and paper. After he found it, he sat down on the couch, paper on the table and the pen in his hands.

He started to write. Slowly, the paper was filled with facts, memories and historical events from the future. After an hour, he had filled two pieces of paper with everything James remembered about his life from September 2016 onwards.

* * *

Jasper walked into the Man Cave with one of his buckets. There was no more room for it at home, and his mother already complained about the amount of buckets he'd collected. Jasper saw no other option than moving some of the buckets to the Man Cave's storage room. They would be safe there, since they never really went to the storage room and nobody would think of using his buckets.

He saw James was sitting on the couch, with a paper lying on the table and a pen in his hand. As soon as he noticed the bucketeer, he turned the paper on the other side and put the pen down.

"Hey Jasper," James said, "No Henry and Charlotte?"

"No," Jasper replied, "Henry had to change."

James frowned. "Change?"

"You don't want to know." If yesterday was bad, today was worse. When nobody was around, someone threw a bag of flour over Henry before the first class. Since there were no spare clothes in his size, Henry had to sit through the school day covered in flour. Everywhere he went, people took pictures of him. Other than that, Jasper and Charlotte had a great day.

"Okay," James said. he folded the papers until they were small enough to fit in his pockets. Whatever he had written down, it wasn't meant for Jasper's eyes. When the paper was out of sight, James turned to the boy.

"Say, do you know why you're not allowed to go with the heroes?" Jasper looked up, surprised. It was something he was having trouble with lately. How did James know that? How did James know he was in love? He didn't really care, because James could help.

"Henry said I'm too inexperienced," Jasper said, "Captain Man dislikes me."

"Really?" James said, "He sure shows signs that he doesn't like you, but that doesn't mean he dislikes you."

"You weren't there one week ago," Jasper said before he could stop himself. James rose an eyebrow.

"What happened one week ago?" the time traveler asked. _Well, I've got to tell him now._ Jasper sat down next to James on the couch and placed his bucket on the other side before he started talking.

"It was my third day here," Jasper said, "I heard Jeff was released from prison. I went to his apartment to help Captain Man and Kid Danger defeat him."

"Let me guess," James then said, "They had no idea he was released, yet." Jasper nodded. He had been so surprised when he found only Jeff in the apartment. The villain made no connection between him and the Kid Danger he fought when the sidekick was first introduced. This time, he managed not to be the victim of Jeff's violence until the hero and his sidekick had arrived. They had only come to warn Jeff not to do anything evil. In the end, Captain Man had some strong words to tell Jasper.

James placed a hand on Jasper's shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up about it," he said, "Ray just doesn't like it when someone else does his job. He can tolerate it when Henry does it, but nobody else. Not even me. You should've heard how he talked to me yesterday."

Jasper's face lit up when he heard the news. "Really?" he said – he never imagined Captain Man would talk like that to anyone, or anyone else. James nodded.

"Yeah," he said, "He thinks that because he's the superhero, nobody else is qualified but the police. If one of your friends were to confront Jeff, I'm sure Ray would've said the same to them as he told you." James pulled his hand away and stood up. He grabbed his long coat lying over the couch.

"Thanks, James," Jasper then said.

"What for?" James asked him while he put his coat on.

"For helping me," Jasper said. Lately, he didn't feel very wanted around the Man Cave. Even Henry and Charlotte acted differently around him in this room. James (sort of) helped him get over it. Maybe, once he's been around here for a while, they would accept him into the team instead of letting him do chores or sit behind the counter.

"You're very welcome," James said, "I'm gonna grab something to eat in that new pizza place. Want some?"

Jasper frowned. "There's a snack machine right here." He pointed at it and James nodded.

"I know," he said, "The pizza from the machine tastes awful. So, what do you want?"

Jasper didn't need to think too long about it. "I'd like a pineapple pizza."

"Good choice," James said as he walked to the elevator. He pressed the button and the doors slid open. He walked into the elevator. "Nice bucket, by the way." The doors were already closing when he said that. Jasper wanted to thank him, but didn't get the chance. He would get that chance when James returned with two pizza's, both with pineapple, one for him and one for Jasper.


	7. Advice

**Hello everybody! Here is the next chapter after (almost) two more weeks of waiting, but here is the next chapter. Before you can read it, here are my replies to your reviews (though you're always free to skip this part):**

 _Sonashee:_ _Thanks for reviewing! James only wrote down what he remembers, but that doesn't mean he remembers everything. At this point, he still doesn't remember his wife's name, among other things. Yes, that is quite important for the plot - though every detail seems important for the plot in this story. James isn't quite interested in what's going on with Henry, he's more concerned about Ray quitting and his own problems. Maybe he doesn't want to distance himself from them, maybe he just wants to socialize. Here's the next chapter._

 _Anomaly90:_ _I'm glad you enjoy it so much. Here's the new chapter. Thanks for reviewing!_

 _CaptainMansBabyGirl:_ _Thanks for reviewing! Well, James is a character who has been around since chapter one.I think you should know this when you're this far into the story. If you want to learn more about him, just continue to read this story or start over to catch up with what the others already know. Either way, answers will come pretty soon. And no, I am not mad at you. I'm just a little annoyed, that's all._

 **Enjoy!**

 **-Writer207**

* * *

It was calm upstairs in the shop. Ray continued his phone call with June there, which eventually resulted in arranging their first date. There was a lot to discuss about, since they both want to have their first day tomorrow evening. Yet, they still had to discuss what restaurant they wanted to go to, what time they would be there, whether Ray would pick her up or not, and other details.

When the phone call was over, he immediately started looking up places where he could take her. at least he'd have a couple of suggestion when they would talk to each other again. He remained upstairs – Gooch was having a sick day, so someone had to watch the store. Plus, he didn't want to go downstairs just yet. Schwoz and James might be there.

Jasper eventually walked into Junk-N-Stuff. The boy greeted the superhero, but Ray didn't say anything back. He just looked up and then went back to work. He didn't want to talk to Jasper at that moment, he had better things to do. Fortunately, Jasper had decided to just go to the Man Cave and not wait around here.

At that same moment, he received a picture from Piper – where did she get his phone number? Either way, she sent him a picture. It was Henry, completely covered in flour from head to do. The Henry in the picture tried to stop Piper from making pictures but, as he knew, nothing would stop that girl once she set her eyes on something. He looked at it with a raised eyebrow. He didn't look at it for too long, since he went back to picking restaurants, going as far as the restaurants in cities and villages around Swellview.

Only an hour later, Charlotte and Henry arrived. Ray noticed them as soon as the door opened – there weren't a lot of customers today and they were the first to enter after Jasper had come in.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey Ray," Charlotte greeted him back, but Henry remained silent. He looked quite bothered with that frown on his face and his hands in his pockets. So, he wasn't in a good mood. Ray looked at Charlotte again.

"Is he still mad about yesterday?"

"Not about yesterday," Charlotte said. that's all she said about the matter and Ray frowned. What could the problem be? And then he remembered the picture Piper had sent him.

Ray sighed. "Something happened at school again?" he thought it'd be better not to mention he knew what had happened. He did not want to provoke Henry. "You've got to report this if this continues." Charlotte nodded, assuring Ray she would do it if whoever was doing this kept this up.

Henry apparently had enough of this conversation and was walking towards the elevator already. Ray did attempt to talk to him.

"So, how was—"

"I don't want to talk about it," Henry said, disappearing from their view. The way he said it was not very friendly. He definitely was not in a good mood. _How can Charlotte keep up with that behavior?_

"I'm going with him," Charlotte said, "Are you coming?"

Ray shook his head. "No," he said, "I have to watch the store. Gooch has a day off." Charlotte nodded and followed Henry. The boy had waited for her so they could travel down to the Man Cave together. Ray stayed upstairs, like he said he would. He continued looking up restaurant and also thought of other possible dates he could take her on, like going to the movie theater or an amusement park or for a walk through Swellview Park. The possibilities were quite endless, because it seemed June was happy with about anything.

* * *

Charlotte and Henry walked in the Man Cave when the elevator doors slid open. They saw how Jasper was telling James a story. The two of them were sitting on the couch and empty pizza boxes stood on the table. They hadn't noticed the two newcomers yet.

"Really?" James said with enthusiasm, "Then what happened?"

"She said it's fine." Jasper sounded a bit less enthusiastic than James, but still was excited. James began to smile.

"No way!" he said, grinning as widely as Jasper, "Dude, you are so lucky! And then?"

The smile disappeared from Jasper's face. "That's it." James stopped smiling as well.

"That's it?" he repeated, "But this… you could've easily continued the conversation!"

"Ahem." James and Jasper simultaneously turned their heads to Henry, who had not-so-subtly drawn their attention away from Jasper's story.

"Hey guys," James greeted them, "How was your day?"

Charlotte opened her mouth to say something, but Henry was faster. "Bad."

"Okay," James said, frowning, "forget I asked." The picture of Henry being covered in flour drifted back into his mind. _Better not mention it._ He didn't want Jasper to get into trouble with Henry for telling what the bad thing was that had happened to the sidekick.

"Is this about the girl Jasper likes?" Charlotte then asked, referring back to the conversation James and Jasper had before Henry had interrupted them. James shot a look at Jasper, as if to ask him whether he was allowed to say it. Jasper nodded once, granting James the permission to say 'yes'. James turned his head to Charlotte.

"Yeah," he said. Charlotte crossed her arms and stared at him. Eventually, James frowned – what is she trying to say? "You know," he said, "I can never tell what you're trying to tell me."

Charlotte sighed. "Don't you have better things to do?" She had asked it in the nicest way she could, but still sounded somewhat hostile, if that word could be used in this situation. The undertone of her voice sounded quite threatening. As if she also wanted to tell him that she'd hurt _him_ if he hurt Jasper. That friendship was one of the reasons why they stayed friends for so long.

"Well, I did," James said – being honest in this situation was probably the best he could be, "But then I finished what I was planning to do here and decided to do something else." Charlotte did not stare at him anymore. No, she _glared_. James shook his head. "Don't look at me like that! I have to spend the day usefully, too. I might as well give him some advice. Plus, if it makes you feel better, he asked me, not the other way around."

Still, Charlotte was a bit skeptical about the situation. James sighed inaudibly. _I wish she'd trust me more._ That would make things a lot easier around here.

"You're a time traveler." James turned his head to Henry, who had said that as if he'd just discovered that.

James nodded. "Correct."

"How old were you in 2016?" Henry asked and James got ready to give him an immediate answer. Yet, it didn't come. He started to wonder how old he'd been in that year, this year. He blinked once – he should know, why didn't he know? Luckily, there was another way to figure this out. He just had to subtract 25 years of his age. But was he 40 or 41 years old?

James shrugged. "I guess about 15 or 16." He was glad Henry and James didn't think it was weird he didn't know how old he was exactly. Only Charlotte seemed a bit suspicious, but she didn't say anything about it.

"Then you know how long this'll last." Henry sounded somewhat hopeful and desperate. There was no need to mention what he was talking about – everyone in the room knew what he meant with 'it'. James nodded.

"Yes, I do," he said, "Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about it?" Henry said in a grouchy voice – he clearly hadn't gotten over what had happened yet. "You know, it's very hard not to worry when everybody's laughing." But James just shrugged.

"Henry," he said, trying to calm down the boy, "it's just a phase."

Henry rose an eyebrow. "Just a phase?" He sounded more angry than shocked. James nodded in all seriousness.

"Yeah," he said, "Yesterday, today and tomorrow are the worst. That's it." Henry still looked skeptical. James continued talking. "Look, tomorrow some unknown person will insult you on social media and spread more nasty rumors. Then, the guy will stop and people will forget what happened. It will take time, but things will go back to normal."

For a while, Henry just looked at him, unable to say anything. Eventually, he did start to speak. "So I just have to wait for it to end?" Saying it out loud didn't make it go faster, nor did it make him more patient.

James nodded. "Yeah, that's it."

"Okay," Henry said, still not really a good mood, "Thanks." Henry walked over to the monitor.

"James," Jasper asked the time traveler now Henry was done talking to him, "what do I do next?"

James soon turned his full attention back to Jasper and his love life. "With your soon-to-be girlfriend? So, what you could do next… hold on, let me think." He thought about everything he knew about Jasper's future girlfriend, but as usual, there wasn't a lot he remembered about her. Jasper's descriptions were quite subjective and didn't help, either. "Got it," he eventually said, "You walk up to her again."

Jasper blinked once in surprise. "Again?"

James nodded. "Yes," he said, "Now she knows you, she might open up some more. She could talk about her likes, dislikes, hobbies. You know, the usual stuff."

"B-but I walked away from her," Jasper said, unable to think of anything else that might sound like an excuse. He was so unsure about her reaction if he tried talking to her again. He walked away from her, how could she even want him? How can she even look at him when he ran away from her when his nervousness overtook him and the sweat was everywhere?

James leaned closer, a sympathetic look in his eyes. "You were nervous," he said, "There's nothing you can do about it. It's okay to be nervous. Just apologize and explain the situation to her. If she understands, she won't let you go for it."

"Are you sure?" Jasper asked. James placed a hand on Jasper's shoulder.

"Jasper, we can never be one hundred per cent sure about anything. But I am quite certain it'll work. It worked for me."

"What works for you won't always work for me," Jasper responded, starting to look at the floor. James pulled away his hand.

"C'mon, Jasper," he said, "don't be so pessimistic. If you believe you'll never get her, you never will. If you believe you'll be together eventually, your chances at succeeding will skyrocket."

Jasper looked back up at him, his eyes lit up with home. It made James grin. "Really?"

"Yeah. That's what I believe," he said and Jasper started to smile as well.

"Jasper, can you help me?" Henry then said, facing them, looking primarily at his best friend. Jasper nodded.

"Sure," he said, then looked back at James. "Thank you." He stood up and walked over to Henry. They had a short conversation about what Henry wanted to do with him in the Man Cave. They walked out of it together, to the door after climbing the stairs. James watched them go until they were out of sight and only then turned his head away. He almost jumped up when he saw Charlotte had come to sit where Jasper just sat. She still stared, but at least it wasn't a glare anymore.

"How are you so sure it'll work for Jasper?" James shrugged.

"Like I said, one can never be sure about anything. But I believe he'll do it just great."

Charlotte stared at him as she spoke to him in a strict tone. "Look, Jasper really likes that girl. It's all he thinks about. You don't know how much bad luck he's had in the past with love. Don't ruin it for him." She pressed her finger against his chest when she said that last sentence. James leaned back, tried to look as relaxed as he could be.

"I wish him all the luck," James said, "The last thing I want is that he fails. But Charlotte, let's be reasonable. Jasper won't fail, he cares too much to fail. Besides, Besides, she is a very nice girl who likes him for who he is. Let's be glad the girl he likes is not crazy." James looked away from her, leaning back in the chair and waiting for an answer.

"I never mentioned one of his ex-girlfriends was crazy," she said. James smile disappeared. He took a deep breath. Charlotte narrowed her eyes – he looked rather nervous. Too nervous for this situation.

"Jasper told me," he said, maybe a little too quickly. Charlotte folded her arms.

"He's too ashamed to mention her to anyone," she said. He knew Jasper avoided talking about Courtney. Now James became even more nervous. He clasped his hands together – they were rather sweaty, while they hadn't been sweating before. He ran on his hands over his head through his short hair and then looked at his wrist.

"Oh, look at the time," he said, forcing a smile on his face on his face. He looked at Charlotte. "I've got to do something now. In my room. Bye!" Then, he abruptly turned around and walked away from her as quickly as he could, leaving no room for her to ask or say anything else. He took the secret door behind the monitor/snack machine and almost stumbled while he walked away from them.

Charlotte noticed Henry and Jasper had already left the room to go somewhere else. Charlotte shook his head. He was too suspicious. He knew too much of their lives. She'd read on his face that he knew what had happened to Henry. She didn't want him to ruin Jasper's love life.

"What is that man hiding?" she asked herself loudly before following him. She needed answers and she'd make him give her what she needed.


	8. The truth about James

**Hey everybody. Merry Christmas! (I know, a bit early, but I won't be able to write another chapter before the celebration). I'm also a few days late, sorry about that. My exams are coming up in January and I've been preparing for them. The next update may be a bit later than two weeks, too, but there'll be a new chapter in January 2017. Anyway, enough of that: it's time to know whether Charlotte will succeed or not. But first, here are my responses to your reviews:**

 _Anomaly90:_ _Thanks for reviewing! Here is the next chapter, hope you'll enjoy._

 _Leniati:_ _Oh, it's about to get even better. Just you wait. Thanks for reviewing!_

 _Shonashee:_ _Thanks for reviewing! Yeah. There's always a moment where they say too much, and James is not an exception. As you can expect with this chapter title, you'll be able to see whether you're right or not. About Henry's situation: that's a secret (for now). And so far, I've been staying away from the school for a good reason. Don't worry, we'll go there later - that's all coming. I just didn't include those previous scenes at school to avoid too much repetition. That, and this is mostly James' story. Here's the next chapter._

 _CaptainMansBabygirl:_ _Here is the next chapter._

 **Enjoy!**

 **-Writer207**

* * *

Charlotte followed James to the room where he'd be staying until his job was done. She waited outside, hesitated a bit. Usually, she would knock on the door to let the people behind it know there was someone at the door. Yet, at this moment, she decided she wouldn't. If she knocked, James could hide something before opening the door.

She opened the door. The room was mostly empty, except from two small piles of paper on the drawer. As soon as the door opened, James jumped up and dropped the papers he was holding on the ground. His first reaction was looking who had come to visit him.

"Charlotte!" he exclaimed, "Geez, don't you knock?" He sat down on his knees and started to gather all the papers again.

"Sorry," Charlotte said. She closed the door behind her. For a moment, she doubted about being here, but she shook that off. She'd come this far already, she wouldn't give up now. Her curiosity was too big, she had to know what was going on. She folded her arm when James had finished collecting all the papers from the ground. "What do you know?"

James shrugged after placing the papers next to the two piles on the drawer. "Not much," he said, "Ask my friends, they'd agree with me. I'm the dumb one."

Charlotte narrowed her eyes. "You're hiding something," she said accusingly. James nodded, placing his hands in his pockets.

"I sure am," he said with a smile. Charlotte blinked in surprise.

"You're confessing?" she asked. After what happened a few minutes ago, she'd expected him to deny it. she had definitely not expected him to agree with her. James nodded.

"Sure," he said, "Hey, there's a lot I have to hide from you. Like what you'll be doing in ten years' time or who the next president of America will be. I'm not telling you about either." Charlotte sighed inaudibly. _Of course you can't talk about that,_ she thought. As much as she'd like to know what would happen, he could not reveal it. She already knew she'd become president one day, which was already enough for her.

"Look," James continued, "I promised I'd save Ray and then go back home. I didn't come to share information about your future." He moved over to the other side of the room, probably to pick some spare clothes from Ray which could fit him. If there's one thing he didn't want to do, is keep wearing the same clothes until Ray decided to quit.

"I know," Charlotte said, "but that's not what I was talking about." James froze on the spot. Only after a second, he turned his head to her, trying to come over as nonchalant. "Like I said, Jasper told me," he said, "He trusts me."

"You don't trust someone after two days!" Charlotte said. those words did not seem to bother the time traveler at all. He picked his outfit for tomorrow and placed it on the bed.

"Apparently, Jasper does," was his answer. He said it in the same casual tone and voice he's been using since she entered the room. He sighed eventually, looking at the girl. "I'd love to continue this conversation, but I really have some important things to do. I mean this in the nicest way possible: can you go now?"

Charlotte nodded. "Fine!" _So he does not want to talk now._ Maybe later he would, but apparently not today. She'd have to figure out how to make him talk, since straight-out accusing him didn't help her. she turned back to the door and right when she was about to open it again, she noticed something. She caught a glimpse of a small piece of paper, hidden half under the closet, hidden from James's view. She picked it up with the intention of returning it to the time traveler, but she ended up looking at it.

It was a family picture. Father, mother and a little girl were posing with the Statue of Liberty – someone other than these three took the picture. The brown-haired woman smiled brightly, holding the little girl in her hands. The man was laughing, looking straight into the camera, holding his arm around his wife's neck. The most striking part wasn't that James has a family waiting for him to return, but that James in the picture had curly hair, like Jasper's.

"Charlotte, no, you – that's mine, give it back!" James said once he noticed Charlotte had a paper in her hand – he did not yet see that it was a picture. Charlotte didn't immediately react, so James extended his hand towards her. "Charlotte, will you please give it back to me?" She turned her head to him, eyes filled with both shock and surprise. James decided he couldn't let her keep it and took it out of her hands.

"Sorry," he said, "but there are things you'd better not…" And then his eyes fell upon the picture.

First, he frowned – he did not remember this picture was taken with those people. Then, the confusion was replaced with joy and shock. Joy to see his wife on the picture. Shock to see a little girl on it, too. "I am… Am I really…" He placed one hand on his head and started to grin widely, looking at the two girls on the picture. "Wow…"

At that moment, Charlotte could not stay silent anymore. "Jasper?!" she almost yelled it, but it still was rather loud. Hearing her say his name, James looked away from the picture to the girl, a bit of panic in his eyes.

"Hush!" he said, "Don't shout! They might hear you." He glanced at the door for a second, wondering and half-expecting someone to barge in and join in the conversation.

"You're really…" she said, but trailed off. It was so weird to see this man as an adult Jasper. Yet, at the other hand, it did explain a lot and it felt good to know who he really was. James nodded.

"Yes, it's me," he said, shrugging, "I guess I'm gonna have to stop lying to you now." He looked at Charlotte. She just stood there, frozen, speechless. She already had her suspicions, but she hadn't thought to figure it out this way. Her first action was going towards the door. But James hurried to stand between Charlotte and the door preventing her from leaving the room.

"No!" he said, sounding quite scared, "Please don't tell the others!"

Charlotte rose an eyebrow. "Why not?" If there's one thing the other should know, it's that James is actually future Jasper. She couldn't just hide it from the others.

"Can you imagine how they'll react?" James said. He sounded desperate, a bit sad, too. He sighed before he continued. "You know, I'd rather tell them, too, you know? They weren't lying when every time travel story ever said it's bad to meet your future self. Turns out it really is bad. Henry would probably just stare, that'd be awkward. And Ray wouldn't let me help him."

Charlotte folded her arms. She's gotten over the initial shock and now had second thoughts on some of the reasons he gave her. "How do you know that?" she asked him.

James shot her an annoyed look. "Do you have to ask?" he asked her, "Have you seen how he treats me? I've been doing nothing but chores since Henry told me. He thinks I'm annoying. He never liked me. He just tolerated me because I was a friend of his sidekick, that's all. Besides, if he knew, I'm certain he would not rely on me to save his life."

Charlotte listened attentively and agreed with him as he talked about Ray disliking him. She had noticed it and realized she should just help Jasper fight that fate and to tell Ray to stop treating Jasper like that. Only then, she realized the meaning behind the last sentence he spoke. Her eyes widened as she looked at James.

"Ray's gonna die?!" she exclaimed. James placed his hand over her mouth almost immediately.

"Hush!" he said. He soon removed the hand from her mouth. She'd get the point – be quiet – and didn't need someone to cover her mouth to say it. she stared at him expectantly, asking him non-verbally to tell her the whole story. _Oh, why not?_ he thought. She already knew a lot, so why not reveal what else he knew?

"Yes," he said, "Very soon, Ray will quit. He'll walk out of the Man Cave and goes somewhere he's never been before. The next day, everyone gets to know Captain Man had passed away. That includes us, too." _Us._ _That has to be him, me and Henry in the future,_ Charlotte thought. She was glad James was finally being honest with her. And yet, some small things still bugged her.

"You could've told us!" she said, "We're dealing with a possible murderer, not Ray quitting!"

"I couldn't," James said, sounding serious. Charlotte had never heard him speak in this tone before.

"You couldn't?" she asked him, "Why?"

"I didn't know," James said.

Charlotte frowned. "But you've just—"

"I didn't know when I arrived. I remember now. It came to me a couple of hours ago." Finally, she could say this was the Jasper she grew up with, the Jasper she knew, the Jasper who did not make sense at certain times.

"How can you not remember that before?"

"I'm having memory issues at this moment," James said. Charlotte noticed this topic troubled him, by the way he stood there, by the way he held his sweaty hands, by the way he looked at her. Maybe she should've stopped there, but she didn't.

"Not to be rude," she said, "But if you're having trouble with your memory, why didn't they send someone else?"

And at that moment, she knew she had better not said that out loud. James did respond, though.

"Nobody else wanted to do it." James glared at her like he never glared at her before and he folded his arms. She opened her mouth, but James wouldn't let her speak.

"No, you listen for a second," he said, then began to talk with such passion and such fieriness he managed to keep Charlotte quiet for as long as he spoke. "I brought this upon myself. The gas affected not just you guys, but me too! Whoever would've come in my place, would've had the same problem. You don't make a connection between me and younger me. But me, I forget most of my life! Yes, sure, I know facts, but they can easily be looked up in history books.

You have no idea what it's like not to know _anything_ about the events that define you. I don't remember where I lived. I don't remember my parents' names or faces. I don't remember what year I was born. I didn't even remember this picture existed. I'd forgotten what my wife looked like. I'd forgotten we have a daughter…" he glanced at the picture in his hands, looked at the little girl.

He sighed. "Charlotte, I can't remember my wedding day, I can't remember the pregnancy, I can't even remember what my wife's name is! Yes, Ray's in danger. But he hasn't lost anything yet."

Maybe he regretted saying this out loud, verbally lashing out like that. Maybe he thought it as justified, since he hadn't been able to tell anyone about his problems as of yet. Either way, he didn't immediately say anything to apologize. He did take a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," Charlotte said. James nodded.

"It's okay," he said, speaking softer than before. "I just… I had to get that off my chest. Feels good not to keep it bottled up. Thanks for listening." He showed her a smile for a short while. She nodded, a smile forming on her face as well.

"You're welcome," she said. Silence fell, but it didn't stay quiet for too long. There were still things she wanted to know. "Do you by any chance remember how he might die?"

James shook his head. "Not really. All I remember for now, is that he'll die if he quits."

Again, there was a short pause. After a while, James placed the picture next to the piles on the drawer and then clasped his hands together, looking back at Charlotte. "You probably have better thing to do out there. Henry needs you. I've got some work to do here, too – these papers don't sort themselves. Quite boring work, but I've got to do something. They're not mind, by the way." Charlotte nodded – so Ray or Schwoz had given him a task. At least it's better than doing chores.

Charlotte walked to the door, placing her hand on the knob, ready to leave and go back to Henry. And yet, she wasn't satisfied. There still was one more thing she needed to know. One more question, and then she'd leave him alone.

"Jasper?" the man froze, but did not move nor did he turn his head. Charlotte tried a second time. "James?" Only then, he turned around to the girl. Charlotte folded her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" she said, "You only respond to 'James'?"

"Well," James said, "I have to if I don't want them to find out it's me. Oh, now we're talking about it: please don't tell anyone." He practically begged her to keep it a secret. "If they do want to know, let them figure it out themselves," he added. Charlotte nodded.

"So, why did you pick that name?" she asked him. This Jasper could've picked any name, so why go for 'James'?

"I wanted a name I could easily remember," he explained, "James and Jasper don't really differ a lot. It even starts with the same two letters. It was an easy choice."

It indeed was an easy choice. Even now she knew he was Jasper, the man in front of her still sort of looked like a James. That, or the fact that she knew him for a few days as James made him look like a James.

The time traveler already paid more attention to the little task than to Charlotte, as he went through the documents Ray or Schwoz wanted him to sort. Maybe this task would help him clear his mind, maybe once he was done he remembered just a bit more, like the day Ray's supposed to quit.

"Naomi."

James turned around and noticed Charlotte still hadn't left. On the contrary – she was still around, she had said that name.

"What did you say?" he asked her. The same sounded quite familiar.

"Naomi," Charlotte repeated, "Her name's Naomi." James mouthed the name and took the picture of his family again. Yes, now he remembered. Naomi Ryan, later Naomi Ryan-Dunlop. The woman he loved, the mother of his daughter.

"Thank you, Charlotte!" he said, holding her in a tight hug. He didn't care about how weird it could be – he was so grateful he didn't think about how weird something might look. "Thank you so much! I… you have no idea how much this means to me."

Charlotte shrugged. "I do," she said, "You can't stop talking about her. You even stopped talking about buckets for a while."

"Thank you," he repeated once more. Charlotte nodded with a smile.

"You're welcome," she said, leaving the room, leaving the future Jasper to sort out what might be useful to this time and what might not.


	9. But I'm on a date

**Hello everyone! Did I say three weeks? Well, here's the next chapter at last! I was very busy with my exams and studying took up more time than I first thought. I've got no more exams anymore, so here is the next chapter! After this one, I should be back on schedule and deliver the next chapter within two weeks again. As usual, before this chapter, here are my replies to your reviews:**

 _Anomaly90:_ _Thanks for reviewing! You're welcome. Here's the next one._

 _Shonashee:_ _Thanks, I put a lot of effort in the dialogue. As for the scene at school, be prepared to see Henry in a not-so-good mood. I did and it's even better at this point: no more exams. Thanks for reviewing!_

 _khaleesi-clan:_ _Thanks for reviewing! It's okay, you can read whenever you want to. Thanks for those compliments. Yeah, he certainly is. He may become more interesting, like the overall plot. Just a few more chapters and it's climax time!_

 _CaptainMansBabyGirl:_ _Here's the next chapter._

 _Miss girl:_ _Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you like it! Here is the next chapter._

 _Guest:_ _Here's the next chapter. I'm glad you like it! Thanks for reviewing!_

 **Enjoy!**

 **-Writer207**

* * *

The next morning, when Charlotte walked into the school building, she saw Jasper and Henry were talking to one another. They stood near Henry's open locker, with Jasper standing with his back to her. The hand gestures and irritated look in Henry's eyes made clear he wouldn't be in a good mood today. Charlotte took a deep breath before finally joining the boys.

"Hey guys!" she greeted them, at least trying to sound cheerful. The boys looked at her. Jasper seemed to be relieved Charlotte had arrived at last, as did Henry. They both said a 'hello' to her, not really in the mood to waste words.

"What is it?" She then asked them. It didn't look like they wanted to start talking right away, so she had to ask.

"James didn't lie," Jasper said. He showed his phone to Charlotte. He already had set it on the right page, so Charlotte didn't have to go look for it.

"Someone's posting lies about me!" Henry said as Charlotte scrolled through the list of lies and insults. There were more than twenty one-liners, all about the life of Henry Hart. She hadn't seen them yet – for Henry, she tried to stay away from them. She didn't read them all, but they were all equally bad, some worse than others. There even were some that came incredibly close to the truth. All she could do about it, unfortunately, was wonder who would do such a thing to such a nice guy like Henry. He didn't have many enemies (at least, not as Henry Hart) and nobody knew his secret (well, not many people).

Charlotte handed the phone back to Jasper. "That's bad," she said, turning to Henry. "At least it's the last day. They're not going to continue."

"Really?" Henry said, barely believing his ears. "Even if they're not going to continue, it'll take some time before they forget. If they forget…"

Two girls walked past them. Their laughs disappeared and turned into disgust when they saw Henry. They hurried away from them, to continue laughing once it was safe to do so again. Henry groaned. Jasper placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, we're here for you," he said, "We'll always be. You know that, right?"

"I know, but…" Henry started, but he trailed off. Whatever he'd wanted to say, he didn't or couldn't finish his sentence. Charlotte looked at him.

"We're here for you," she repeated Jasper's words, "And they'll get over it. James said—"

"What does he know?" Henry then asked. The question came suddenly, not expected by Jasper or Charlotte. She frowned.

"He's from the future," she said. She wanted to add something to that, but Henry wouldn't let her.

"That doesn't mean he was here, right?" he said, "We don't know anything about him. How do we know he's telling the truth?"

"He'd know if he went to this school as a teenager," Charlotte said, glancing at Jasper quickly. Henry didn't seem to notice that. He looked around, trying to find the face of a younger James elsewhere.

"Yeah," was what Henry could say about it, "He's probably somewhere out there, laughing."

Charlotte shook her head. "I'm not so sure about that."

Henry turned his head to her. "How?"

Charlotte shrugged. "I just have a feeling." She then smiled at him, tring not to look at Jasper. Let them figure it out themselves, James had said. Charlotte had agreed with that. If James hadn't made her promise, she'd tell Henry to trust James because he was a twenty-five-year-older Jasper with memory issues.

There was a soft noise, as if someone smacked a locker close. Henry immediately turned his head, looking for any culprit. "Did you hear that?" Charlotte turned her head as well. There was nobody standing at the other side. She looked at him. He kept looking for the person who did it.

"Hear what?" she said. Maybe someone had closed a locker a bit further away. That's what it had sounded like to her, but apparently not what Henry had heard.

The bell rang. It was time for them to go their separate ways. This period, Henry had to go to a different course than Jasper and Charlotte. It was the only hour of the day where they'd be separated completely.

"Never mind," Henry said, shaking his head. He took his backpack. "See ya in Ms. Shapen's class!" He walked away from them, going to his class. Charlotte watched him leave. All around, students got ready to go to the first class of the day. Charlotte, on the other hand, wanted to take her time to have a conversation with Jasper now.

"Jasper?" she turned around to see he was staring. She followed his gaze and her eyes fell upon a brown-haired girl and her friends. Jasper answered her with an absent-minded 'yes?'. Charlotte raised an eyebrow.

"You know it's rude to stare, right?" She told him. This and Naomi heading to her first class seemed to bring him back to reality. Jasper blinked a few times and then focused back on Charlotte.

"Yeah, right," he said, "How's Henry?"

"Not good," Charlotte said. She sighed and clasped her hands together. "Look, we just have to support him. It'll help if you don't stare too much at Naomi," she added. Jasper nodded.

"Fine. But maybe this is my last chance!" he added, sounding a bit whiny. She rolled her eyes.

"You can just talk to her," she said, the picture of the future Dunlop family in mind. "She won't shut you out."

Jasper then started to nod in determination. "Yeah, I can try that."

"But," Charlotte said before Jasper would go to his class, "let's take care of Henry today, okay? He needs our support. I'm sure she'll understand you're helping him out."

"Okay," Jasper said. Charlotte nodded and then she let him leave. Now that she had managed to get Jasper to stick with her and Henry for today, she could go to calculus without any worries. Of course, worrying was like a fulltime job now someone was spreading lies about Henry and with Ray's potential death coming up. At least it was Thursday – the week was almost over. Two full days in the Man Cave during the weekend may be what they needed to figure out who could be behind Henry's hate messages and to find out who of Captain Man's rogue gallery has any murder plans he'd like to achieve. The only variable in this plan was the time of Ray quitting being a superhero.

* * *

The day had ended like the two days before had, with Henry in a bad mood and the entire school laughing with him. Henry opted to go straight to the Man Cave today as well, mostly so he wouldn't have to face Piper's comments. With her unlimited internet access, she probably knew the nasty rumors someone spread about him already. Either way, they walked into Junk-'N'-Stuff, coming right from their school. After the elevator ride – Jasper still screamed – they walked into the Man Cave.

The Man Cave looked somehow abandoned. Ray wasn't in this particular room. Schwoz was nowhere to be seen, too, and he might not even around. James was sitting on the couch, reading a book.

"Hey James!" Charlotte greeted him as they walked out of the elevator. James looked up from the book and smiled at them, lifting his hand by means of a greeting.

"Hey guys!" he said. He closed the book, placing a bookmarker where he stopped. "How was… never mind, I guess I know how it went." He didn't finish his first question when he saw the look on Henry's face. He then realized it was better not to ask this time.

"Where's Ray?" Henry then asked him, looking around, having expected seeing him around. James sighed.

"On a date," he said. Henry frowned.

"A date? At this hour?" James nodded. He didn't seem to be very happy with Ray's decision and poor timing.

"Yeah, I know," he said, "I don't approve of it either. She can do better."

"Do you know her?" Jasper asked him and James shook his head.

"No, I really don't," the time traveler said, "I only have one name. June." As soon as he spoke that name, his brain started working. He frowned, as if he was trying to remember something. "That sounds familiar. June… June…" He thought about it for more than half a minute before he shrugged. "Nope, lost it."

Then, James turned his head to them, immediately switching subjects. "Did anything good happen today?" Henry glared at James, who regretted asking him about it. "I guess that's a no," he muttered, picking up the book again. Maybe he could read his way out of this situation, hoping Henry would look away from him soon.

As soon as he opened the book, however, the alarm went off. The four walked to the screen, Charlotte taking place in the chair and taking care of the controls. Henry and Jasper stood right behind her. James joined them soon - he'd taken the time to sigh before getting up. Not much later, the face of the criminal appeared on the screen.

"Drill Finger!" James said, looking at the picture of the villain. Wow, it's been a while since he's seen that man. Just seeing this picture returned some memories to him, most of which were quite positive. Were they friends? Probably not, but they did have a good relationship. He may not even be a villain in those memories, but it's hard to judge when you don't remember everything you're supposed to remember.

"He's robbing a pharmacy," Henry said immediately after that, looking at the dot on the city map. It was the biggest pharmacy of the city, located at Sixth and Corish, in downtown Swellview. James frowned.

"Really?" He said, "He can do better than that." The three teenagers turned their heads to James with a questioning look on their faces. The time traveler shrugged. "What? He usually breaks into factories, right?"

They all decided to forget what he had said earlier to focus on the task at hand. Drill Finger, robbery, pharmacy at Sixth and Corish, downtown Swellview, assistance needed.

Henry walked away from the group. "I'll call Ray," he said, distancing himself to go call him. Jasper, Charlotte and James stayed near the screen so Henry could have a private moment with Ray. Well, as far as it can be private when they could hear what they were saying. It still was just the other side of the day.

Eventually, Ray's hologram appeared. From this distance, they could only see Ray had dressed himself for this occasion, for once dressing formally. James nodded – even if Ray should be here right now, he did look quite good. At least, he must be.

"What?" Ray asked Henry, sounding quite irritated.

"Drill Finger's breaking into a pharmacy!"

"Really?" Ray sounded just as surprised as James had been. The time traveler had to suppress the need to say 'told you so', because that'd be not quite appropriate right now.

"I'll meet you there," Henry said. He was about to close the hologram, but Ray had second thoughts.

"Well…" he said and Henry sighed.

"Ray?"

"I'm on a date," the superhero said, as a way to talk himself out of doing his duty.

"So you're gonna let him get away?" Henry asked him.

"No, of course not!" Ray then said, "You'll be there to stop him." The short silent that followed suggested Henry was not happy about this, and he already was in a bad mood.

"You're not coming?" They could hear his disapproval in his voice.

"I'm on a date," Ray said again, stressing each word again. _Man, he really doesn't want to leave,_ James thought. That may be problematic. Henry sighed again.

"Ray…"

"C'mon!" Ray then exclaimed, "It's been ages since I went on a real date!"

"Crime doesn't wait," Henry argued. James couldn't suppress a small smile. At this moment, it looked like Ray had to testify to Henry for not being there. Also, for some reason, this bickering was fun to watch for him. When he looked at Jasper and Charlotte, he saw they didn't enjoy it as much as he did.

"Listen," Ray eventually said, "I'm happy here, okay? I can't just leave her. Besides, it's just Drill Finger. You can take him. Good luck, Henry!"

Henry started shaking his head. "Ray, don't you–" Before he could finish that sentence, Ray's hologram disappeared. Henry groaned in disapproval and irritation. He then turned to the three others in the room, who had heard everything that the sidekick told the hero and vice versa. James quickly got rid of the smile.

"He's not coming, is he?" Charlotte asked her best friend, who shook his head.

"No," Henry said, "He's having too much fun on his date!" He was mocking Ray with the tone he used to say those words. He took the tube with the bubble gum and took one out of it.

James came closer to him. "You're not going there alone," he said. Henry looked at him in confusion.

"You're coming with me?"

James shrugged. "Why not? He'll expect two people, so let there be two people. Besides, I've always wanted to meet him."

"Why?" Jasper asked out loud. James opened his mouth to answer that question, but closed it before answering. No, he shouldn't tell them what the reason was. He'd have to explain the future to them, while it could all change in the now.

"No reason," was his final answer before turning back to Henry. He'd already popped the bubble and had become Kid Danger. "Now, shall we?" Henry nodded.

"Let's go!" Henry said, as he and James walked to the tubes, ready to stop Drill Finger.

"Good luck!" Jasper said. James nodded in response. Henry called it and he and James disappeared, going up the tubes, up to the world and to the villain.


	10. The robbery

**Hey guys! Did I say two weeks? Okay, it's a bit later. It's just that college has decided to kick it up a notch and I had to cut back in writing time (so much homework...). Either way, from now on I'll try to get a new chapter done within three weeks' time. Here is the next chapter! Enjoy!** **But first, here are my reviews to your reviews:**

 _CaptainMansBabyGirl:_ _Here is the next chapter. Also, I'm not sure if you're actually reading what I'm writing. Henry is not have a date. It should also be clear if you're just skimming. Also, I can decide for myself which stories I will read, though thanks for the suggestion._

 _Anomaly90:_ _It wasn't that bad of a cliffhanger, was it? I know I can be more evil than that. Either way, here is the chapter! Thanks for reviewing!_

 _khaleesi-clan:_ _Thanks for reviewing! And yes, the future... What would've happened? It's a mystery._

 _Shonashee:_ _I know, right? I'd personally love to see more interaction between Jasper and Charlotte on the show. Yes, he really does love her enough to skip duty. And technically, James doesn't really know Ray (only personally for a week or so), but he does respect him as a hero. He never liked it that Ray was giving him chores, though. And yes, the future... Man, I could write a story all about what's going on in James' future! Maybe I will one day... but not now. I've got too muck work now._ _Thanks for reviewing!_

 **Enjoy!**

 **-Writer207**

* * *

Henry and James arrived at the pharmacy after a few minutes. James was surprised not to hear any alarm blaring. Then again, Drill Finger may have disabled or destroyed the alarm. The police probably was coming, too, because if they got the information in the Man Cave, the police received that information as well.

"I guess that's our cue," James said, looking at the opened glass door. The glass was shattered and lying in pieces on the ground. Henry nodded in response and walked inside. He did not pay attention to the shards on the ground. James quickly followed him inside, mindful of the pieces. They could not see the villain immediately, but the mess inside suggested Drill Finger was here. Or that he'd been here, depending on whether he still was around or not. Henry and James went to the stockroom, hoping to find Drill Finger there.

They had been right. Drill Finger was in the stockroom, wearing his lab coat. He was shoving several different medicines from the racks into a big sack. So far, it looked like one fourth of the bag was filled with these pain killers. He did not notice he was being watched by Kid Danger and James.

"Stop right there!" Kid Danger shouted. Drill Finger quickly put the drugs in his sack before closing it and swinging it on his back, ready to make his escape and fight the heroes if he had to. He turned to the hero and the bystander.

"You'll never—" The villain did not finish his sentence. Instead, he stared through his purple mask at the two. His eyes wandered off to James. Looking at him like that, James took the time to try and remember anything. His memory failed him – no new memories resurfaced. Such a pity.

The villain did not stay silent for too long. An evil grin appeared on his face. or not – it was hard to see with that mask on his face.

"What's the matter, kid?" Drill Finger asked, "Aren't you allowed to go out without adult supervision?"

"No." Henry opened his mouth, but James had been faster. "He's the one watching over me." James folded his arms. He would not let the sidekick react to the taunts – that never really was a good option. Besides, Henry was already pissed off. It would not help if James let Drill Finger provoke him.

"Really?" Drill Finger said in response, using a mocking tone. Then, he just shrugged. "Oh, it doesn't matter, anyway!" The villain took one step away from them.

"You know," James said before Henry could attack and before Drill Finger was gone, "You seem frustrated."

Against all odds, the villain did not take a second step away from them. He just stood there, turning his head back to them, perplexed someone figured out what he was feeling.

"I am," Drill Finger said. all of a sudden, he didn't seem to be in such a hurry to escape anymore.

"And angry," James added and the villain nodded.

"Definitely!" was his answer.

"Wanna talk about it?" James asked him, surprising him and Captain Man's sidekick.

"James!" Henry exclaimed. He had been silently following the conversation, wondering what James tried to achieve with talking to the villain. Needless to say, Henry strongly disagreed with the time traveler.

"What?" James said in response, turning his head to Kid Danger. "Maybe he wants to talk about it." He turned his head to the villain again. Drill Finger had decided not to run away just yet. Good. James nodded at him. "Go ahead. We're listening."

Drill Finger blinked once, stared at the man in the trench coat. For some moments, James wondered whether he had made the right decision talking to the man who will turn out to be an okay guy in the future.

"Are you serious about this?" Drill Finger asked and James nodded.

"One hundred percent," he said. Next to him, Henry groaned loudly in disagreement and disapproval. James didn't see it, but he could imagine Henry had also rolled his eyes. He watched the villain. For a few moments, Drill Finger did not react. he sighed in relief when Drill Finger put the sack back on the ground and started to talk.

"I have this plan," he said, "It was going to be awesome! It's the usual. Kidnapping people, sedating them, pulling the teeth right out of their mouths… it would be the talk of the town!"

"Did they have to be sedated?" James asked. This reaction was met with criticism from his companion.

"Don't give him any ideas!" the sidekick shouted. James shrugged that off.

"I'm just wondered," he said in his defense, glancing at Henry when responding before turning his head back to Drill Finger.

"Yes, they have to," the villain said, "Sure, they may not scream, but at least they won't resist when I destroy their teeth."

"So," James said, "the way I see it, you're stealing these drugs to carry out your plan." It was best to keep him talking now. The more they knew, the better they could inform the city about his plans for the future. He wouldn't change allegiances in one night, so the possibility of this plan being carried out was real.

Even through the holes in the masks, they could see the villain suddenly had become furious. "No!" he exclaimed, "No, these are my second choice. I had others, better ones. I've been robbed!

"Hold on," Henry said, joining in on the conversation again. "Someone stole from you?" Stealing in itself was not strange, but who would steal from a villain, possibly a colleague in evil? If so, who would steal from the one with a drill finger and small anger management issues?

"Drill Finger nodded. "Oh yeah," he said, "You should've done your job better, kid. Only I knew where I kept them. Nobody but me knew! Nobody could get to them except for me! Just today, I discovered they were gone."

"Really?" Henry said. Drill Finger nodded in response, shouting out a quick 'yeah!' as well. Henry seemed to have trouble believing the story.

"Are you sure someone stole them?" the time traveler asked the villain.

"Off course they're stolen," the villain said, "Have you been listening?"

"I have," James said, placing a hand on his chin. "I'm just wondering who'd want to take them, that's all."

"You believe him!?" James sighed when he heard the semi-angry voice. When he turned his head to Henry, he saw the boy was looking at him disapprovingly, caught the boy glaring at him. This time, he didn't ignore him. He stared at the kid.

"He seems to talk genuinely passionate about it, so yes, I have reason to believe him." He carefully selected the words he spoke, calmly pronouncing them. Kid Danger groaned once again and he folded his arms.

"We didn't come to talk," Henry reminded him. James nodded.

"Fine," he said. they knew enough to warn the city, anyway. James took a step backwards. "He's all yours."

"Finally!" Kid Danger said in relief, and without further ado he went straight for Drill Finger. The villain had just enough time to pick up the sack, so it could be used as a weapon or shield against Kid Danger.

James watched the two fight from this short distance. He wondered why Henry didn't just attack the villain. Whatever the reason was, he was glad to know that, however irritated Henry was, he still respected the time traveler enough to let him do his thing.

 _Well, he's not mad at you,_ a voice in his head reminded him about the way Henry had handled Ray refusing to come over here. If Ray had tried to talk to Drill Finger, it would've ended differently.

Henry hit Drill Finger a few times. He had to jump back a few times, too, because the drill finger had come dangerously close to him. James wasn't too focused on the fight – he thought more about the theft at Drill Finger's. That was quite an achievement, as Drill Finger was rather paranoid when it came to his supply of sedatives and drugs. He wouldn't be surprised if Drill Finger protected his stock with number codes, letter codes, movement and light sensors, among others.

"James!" He quickly turned his head to Henry when he heard his name. For a second, he worried that he'd have to help him take down Drill Finger – no, thanks, he didn't like dentists – but he sighed in relief when he saw Drill Finger was out cold.

"Good job, Kid," he said. He'd wanted to say 'Henry', but that was not a good idea. After all, anyone could hear it when said so openly, even in the stockroom of a pharmacy. "Maybe Captain Man didn't have to be here after all."

Henry went back to glaring at James. "Meeting a woman is no excuse for not being here." James and Henry remember some of the occasions during which he had to be Kid Danger in favor of being Henry and doing something fun. And since Henry had quite a nice social life, such occasions were nothing special. And when Ray, who did not really have a social life other than going out as Captain Man, had a chance to do the same thing Henry had to do for two years now, he chose romance over his job.

"Maybe," James said. It was the safest answer right now.

Luckily, things didn't become too awkward between them. Not much after James had responded to Henry, the sound of sirens could be heard in the distance. James sighed in relief – the police was coming. The five minutes between hearing the silence and the police arriving on the scene were spent in silence.

Three officers ran into the building, guns drawn just in case. When he saw them, James put his hands in the air, to prevent the cops from mistaking him for a henchman.

"He's with me," Henry told them. The police officers put their guns away. Two of them took the unconscious villain and dragged him out of the stockroom, while the third officer inspected the loot Drill Finger had wanted to take with him.

James turned his head when he heard something. He relaxed when he saw it was just one small box, which had fallen off of a shelf, about a yard from that third officer. The man did not bother to put it back in place – no, instead he picked up the bag and took it with him, for this could be used against him as evidence. The man nodded briefly at Kid Danger and James, not asking questions about Captain Man's absence. James nodded back at them.

It was the first and last time the police would ever see James at Kid Danger's side.


	11. The dispute

**Hell everyone! College is still a pain in the butt and it is not slowing down. So, yes, it took a bit longer again. I'm not going to have too much time writing during the Easter break either, as I plan to use that time to study ahead for my exams in June. As for the next chapter... with a bit of luck, it'll be up mid or end April, though I cannot promise that. Anyway, here is the long-awaited next chapter. But, as usual, here are my replies to your reviews:**

 _CaptainMansBab_ _yGirl:_ _If you like the story, as you claim, then why skim if you can take the time to properly read it and finds some clues in the small details? I personally believe reading is a pastime which needs time and patience and noticing the little details, not skimming._

 _Anomaly90:_ _It means it's the only time Henry and James are seen working together by the police. It had a lot of dramatical weight, I know, but I wouldn't put it there if it didn't mean something would happen. Thanks for reviewing!_

 _Tchundjong:_ _Thanks for reviewing! Well, congratulations for figuring it out from the second chapter. And here is the next chapter!_

 **Enjoy!**

 **-Writer207**

* * *

"This has been going on for too long now," Henry said, shaking his head.

James groaned. "I know," he said, "It's only the eighth time you mention it."

After taking down Drill Finger, James and Henry returned to the Man Cave. That was at about five o'clock. Since then, they've been waiting for Ray to return. Jasper and Charlotte either were still upstairs at Junk-N-Stuff, discussing the better ways to talk to a girl, or at their respective homes. James spent his time usefully as well, helping Schwoz with some minor technical issues and inventions. Henry, on the other hand, only focused on Ray and when he'd return. All attempts to contact him lead to nothing, as he didn't respond. So all Henry could do, was impatiently wait for his boss to return.

And so, the sidekick spent his time looking at his phone and pacing around in the room while James was sitting on the couch, reading a novel he found in the Man Cave.

"C'mon Henry," James said, putting the book closed on the table in front of him – he may not be able to read much more now. "He'll be here soon."

Henry turned his head to James, irritation and restlessness taking its toll. Since they had come back, Henry has been pacing, refusing to sit down and even eating while walking around.

"It's half past ten," Henry said. He was this close to having shouted this.

James shrugged. "So?"

"It's been going on since half past four!" he exclaimed. James bowed his head and sighed. What was wrong with a date lasting that long? It probably meant Ray was taking his time to get to know this June and that he really was into her.

"Maybe he's just having a good time," the time traveler suggested. Henry did not seem to like it, as he responded with a harsh glare to said suggestion. Upon seeing the glare, James decided to stand up and walk over to Henry. He was taller than him – maybe he'd listen to him standing up.

"Okay, before you lash out at me, let me explain," he said. "I'm not a big fan of Captain Man, but Ray Manchester is quite an enjoyable man. Unfortunately, we don't get to see Ray, the non-superhero, too often. He's more Captain Man than Ray and that definitely can take its toll, especially on his social life. I totally agree with you when you say he shouldn't neglect his job. It seems impossible for Swellview to go one night without Captain Man. But then again, at least he's out there and having fun."

Henry was still staring, but at least the glare had disappeared. Now, the sidekick shook his head.

"I sometimes don't get you," he said, referring to the quick addition of that last phrase to James' explanation.

"Really?" James responded, "Well, don't beat yourself up about it. You've never truly gotten me, anyway."

He realized his mistake as soon as he had said those words. He kept his face blank and turned around, walking back to the couch. He placed a hand in his neck. No sweat yet. Good. That is the one thing that could give his identity away.

Henry didn't let that comment slide too easily, as he walked over to James with a look of confusion on his face. He had folded his arms.

"What did you just say?" Henry asked him, unsure what to think about that last phrase, other than thinking of everyone he had met at school, yet not coming across any James Ryan. He hoped the time traveler would explain, even if that chance was small.

Luckily, when James opened his mouth, the doors of the elevator slid open. The two turned their heads to the elevator, half-expecting Charlotte and Jasper to come out of it. Yet, it wasn't them, but Ray. He stepped out of it, a wide grin on his face.

"Hey Henry, James!" he greeted them. And in an instant, Henry forgot all about what James had said in favor of telling Ray what was on his mind.

"Hi," James told him, partially to avoid having to tell Henry any of his secrets, partially out of decency. "I'm assuming the date went well."

"Well?" Ray said, "That, my friend, is an understatement." By the looks of it, Ray indeed seemed to have had a great time with June. James nodded in agreement.

"I'm glad you had a great night." Ray gave him a thumbs up and then looked at Henry. Finally, he seemed to notice his sidekick wasn't as happy for him as the time traveler was. For some reason, he looked quite grumpy. Ray frowned.

"Henry, are you okay?" Henry folded his arms and downright glared at the hero, not giving any verbal answers. The grin disappeared from Ray's face and his worried side arose.

"What happened?" he asked him, "Did Drill Finger get away?"

"No, we caught him," Henry said, shaking his head.

"Then what's the matter?"

"You." Henry didn't take his eyes off of his boss, who was taken aback by that answer. There was a confused look on his face, wondering why Henry pointed at him as the 'problem'.

"Me?" Ray asked, pointing at himself. At this point, he already guessed what Henry was talking about, not voicing this guess yet. Before Henry could say anything in return, James stepped in again, as he felt the tension rise and hoped to defuse the situation a bit.

"He's a bit annoyed that-"

"Annoyed?" Henry interrupted him, briefly turning his head to James, "Oh, I'm more than a bit annoyed! Ray, why didn't you help us?" As Ray already predicted, Henry was ready to blame him for not showing up this time. He already had his answer ready, so he could answer rapidly.

"I already told you, I was on a date."

"Which lasted six hours!" Henry exclaimed, "You could've at least come to help for half an hour. Because that's all it took. Just half an hour, thirty minutes!"

Ray sighed. Henry wasn't just feeling irritated, he immediately noticed it. He clearly was disappointed, too, and he couldn't blame the kid for feeling like Ray let him down.

"I know, but…" He took a small pause, thinking of something – anything – to follow that beginning with. Henry took his chance and spoke again.

"But, what?" he said, "Ray, this is your job!" Though he disagreed with the tone Henry used, Ray had to agree with the kid. Yes, this was indeed his job, more so than being the owner of Junk-N-Stuff. Comparing it with being Captain Man would be comparing a hobby with a job.

He wanted to shout in his face, wanted to let it all out in an uncontrolled manner. But that wouldn't be the wisest option, as it could make things worse in the future. Instead, he went for a calm approach, hoping to calm Henry a bit as well.

"Look, Henry," he began, "I'm sorry for not helping out today, but it was Drill Finger. I know you're strong and experienced enough to handle him."

Henry nodded, having calmed down a bit himself after hearing that confession. That's all he wanted to hear from him, anyway, even though he was still mad at the hero for not showing up.

"As for June…" Ray continued, "Henry, I think I love her."

This didn't get much reaction from the sidekick at first, him standing and staring at Ray with a 'are-you-kidding' look on his face. Henry did raise an eyebrow and he gave a verbal response as well.

"Really?" he said, "But you've only met her twice. You went on just one date!"

Ray casually shrugged his shoulders. "So?"

"Having a crush isn't the same as being in love," Henry said, remembering this animated movie Piper absolutely had to see. It was about a girl who fell for a guy and planned to marry him after spending just one day with him. The girl's older sister disapproved. Eventually, it turned out that the guy was an evil prince from a faraway country and he got what he deserved. Henry only thought about the girl's rash decision and not about the bad intentions of the guy she dated, though. Besides, that evil-bit was just a plot point to justify the girl's reaction and to empower her furthermore when she broke off the weddings plans to be an independent woman, and Henry only applied the love-at-first-sight theme on Ray's situation.

Ray sighed again, as a reaction to Henry's words. To him, it seemed that Henry was projecting his irritation onto anyone near him, and especially Ray at this point. It was the reason why he didn't want to be a dad – that irritation and constant opposition that goes along with puberty (other than that, he loved kids). He didn't realize he was mistaking honest concern with the irritation from earlier.

"I know you're annoyed," Ray said, "Of course you are, with what's happening at school. But she's interested in me. Do you have any idea how rare that is? I couldn't have just left her. Right, James?"

James look up from the book in his hands, bewildered. He had sat down on the couch again and had continued to read the novel again. He was fed up with their conflict and had picked it up again to distract himself from the dispute. After all, they were both old enough to resolve this little conflict themselves. Though he had to look up when he heard the name. It'd be suspicious if he didn't.

"What?" it was his time to sound a bit annoyed.

"I couldn't have left June all alone, right?" Ray repeated the question. James blinked once and briefly stared at him. He did not put the novel down.

"I mean this in the nicest way possible," he eventually said, "but please do not involve me. I'm trying to read this book."

"You're not picking sides?" Henry then asked him. At least the sidekick was right. Of course he had his opinion, but he didn't want to share it right now, even though Henry knew what the time traveler was thinking. The other party may not like the answer and he really did not want to throw wood on the fire and spark more discussions by revealing his opinion.

"I'm not supporting either side," he said, "Just, please, stop fighting. You're better than this." He then turned back to his book, turning his attention away from the two so they had to talk to each other again. At least that answer brought some silence and tranquility into the room. It made it a lot easier to focus on the story.

In the end, they didn't really speak to each other anymore that night. They only postponed the resolution. Henry muttered a quick "It's late, I gotta go home," after which he walked straight into the elevator. Before he was completely gone, Ray did say "Yeah, let's think it over tonight". After one last glance at James, Ray walked out of the room.

Not much later, after finishing three more chapters, James went back to his own room as well, hoping they'd resolve their conflict tomorrow. He had a bad feeling about it, but those were worries for tomorrow.


	12. A new theory

**Hey guys, here I am again with a new chapter! I'm so excited for this one and the ones following it, I managed to write it in less than a month. I have a really busy schedule, but I think I'll get the next chapter out by mid-May, maybe earlier if I'm lucky. (I don't think I will be lucky, though - so much deadlines...) Anyway, here's the next chapter but, before we go there, here's my replies to the reviews of last chapter:**

 _Anomaly90:_ _Thanks for reviewing! Yes, it was. Though I wouldn't have put it in there if I didn't find it meaningful for the scene._

 _CaptainMansBabyGirl:_ _No, thank you. I'm a bit too busy studying and generally trying to keep up with my courses to roleplay._

 _JAG777:_ _Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you like it! We're almost at the climax, and I hope you'll like this chapter, too._

 _Flublob:_ _Really? Well, I'm very glad you like it. I'm sure you'll like the end arc as well. Thanks for reviewing!_

 **Enjoy!**

 **-Writer207**

* * *

At long last, it was Friday. The last day of school before the weekend started, the last day of work before taking a small break. Yet, for some, there simply was no room for breaks. This was a known truth among firefighters, policemen and women, just like superheroes. For James there was no time to stop, too. He's been here for a couple days now, but nothing had happened. Okay, Henry and Ray fought, which could be the prelude to Captain Man quitting, but that was about it.

He sat on the couch, rubbed his knee. It started aching a little. It was no big deal – it wasn't too much pain and he could still walk around without trouble if he wanted to. He rubbed it where the scar was located. He did not like to think back to those days, but it did remind him that he and his friends weren't invincible. They lost sometimes, they could get hurt.

The elevator doors slid open and James was brought back to the real world by hearing its sound. Henry and Charlotte walked out of it.

"Hey guys!" James greeted them. While he was taking a trip down memory lane, why not also cherish how innocent they were, why not remember how they used to smile, how they denied their love for another while it was still blossoming.

"Hey James," Charlotte greeted him back.

"No Jasper?" he then asked the two, clearly noticing his absence. Of all people, Jasper wouldn't say no to going to the Man Cave.

"He's to Miami with his parents," Henry told him, "His parents wanted to leave today, so he's not here today."

"Oh," James said. _A trip to Miami. Something else I don't remember. Oh well_ … "Ray will be here any minute. He's taking a shower now," he added. Henry's facial expression shifted, going from semi-happy to serious in a matter of seconds.

"Okay," was all Henry said in response, and then was all there was to say.

Before anyone could say anything, Ray entered the room, neatly dressed, phone in his hands and a basket with his laundry in the other. He went to put it in his room before quickly returning to the main room. James turned his head, interested, worried about what could ensue next. He briefly glanced at Charlotte and noticed that she, too, was worried, although he had the feeling she was calmer than the time traveler.

At first, Henry and Ray (as well as James and Charlotte) remained quiet, didn't really talk to one another. Though eventually, Henry walked up to Ray. James' heart started beating faster and his hands grew sweaty. He readied himself for what might ensue.

"Ray…" Henry did not get any further than that, because Ray already interrupted him.

"No, Henry," the hero said, "Don't start that again."

This prompted Henry to stare at Ray in a confused way, suggesting it wasn't what Henry expected (neither did James). Though, he quickly explained himself.

"I wasn't going to," Henry said.

Now, it was Ray's turn to be confused. "Really?"

James repeated what Captain Man had said. He didn't worry about them anymore, but now he found himself being concerned about his memories. According to those, Captain Man left one day and died, possibly after a fight. Jasper wasn't there - he and his family visited a big city for the weekend - but Henry had told him what happened when he returned. Yet he had always assumed the fight they had had was the last straw. He was open for suggestions, anyway, though he'd always believed that fight always played a big part.

Henry nodded in response. "Yeah," he said, looking more at Captain Man and ignoring James for the time being. "Look, yesterday, I shouldn't have…"

"It's okay, kid," Ray said, placing his hand on Henry's shoulder. "What they're doing to you at school, is awful. If it happened to me, I'd be pissed, too."

James watched them, happy they made up, and yet still a bit confused.

"So no more fighting each other?" The time traveler asked them and the two men nodded in response.

"Is it that surprising?" Charlotte asked him. He thought about it for a moment and almost immediately he came to the conclusion that, no, it wasn't. Henry was having some very bad days and Ray some very good ones. An irritated Henry just lashed out because of what happened, but James should have never assumed Henry would hold a grudge.

And that was all the confirmation he needed that the fight was not the cause of Captain Man's ultimate demise. He had jumped to conclusion too quickly and now, he had to start all over again, to find another plausible explanation for Ray walking to his death...

Ray focused his attention to the phone in his hand again. He heard a 'bazinga', the signal that he had received a text. It was rather loud, so everyone else in the room heard it, too, and only James raised an eyebrow hearing that word, though he soon resumed thinking about all possibilities regarding Captain Man's demise.

"So," Henry then asked Ray, "Who's texting you?"

"It's June," Ray responded, a smile appearing on his face.

"What's she saying?" Henry asked, mostly out of curiosity. Though he wouldn't mind if Ray didn't want him to know what she was telling him, he'd still want to know what she'd said.

"She's asking me when I'll be arriving at her place," the hero responded, quickly typing in a response and sending it to her. Once he looked up from the device, he noticed Henry was looking at him with a confused look in his eyes. It was then that he realized that he hadn't told Henry yet what he and June had discussed last night. He also remembered he 'forgot to mention it' because of all the fuss.

"I may have said 'yes' when she asked me yesterday whether I'd be staying with her for the weekend," Ray explained, partially expecting Henry to criticize him again, though that expectation was debunked as soon as he saw Henry nodding and seemingly agreeing with his decision. Good. It'd be terrible to be working with someone who didn't like it when the other had fun with a girl.

"You can handle working alone for a couple of days, right?" he asked his sidekick, who nodded.

"Yeah, I'll manage," Henry said.

"Great! I'll get my stuff now," Ray said and he was already walking towards the stairs.

"What, you're leaving already?" Charlotte then asked him. Ray stopped in the middle of the stairs, turning his head to them.

"Yes. Going over to her place after one date? That's a chance I'm not missing out on." And with that statement, he ran up the remaining stairs to go get his stuff. He came back rather quickly, a bag tossed over his shoulder.

"Wow," Henry said, after seeing its size. "That's… not as much as I thought you'd take with you."

Ray shrugged in response. "Well, I'll only need one set of fresh clothing. She lives on the edge of Swellview so if I need anything, I can quickly go and get something. Either way, June and I will have the weekend to ourselves." Ray sighed, still that smile plastered on his face, ready for a fun weekend without responsibilities.

Henry raised his eyebrows. "Really?" He asked the hero, wondering what could be expected with 'not to themselves' and who else could be living with June.

"Yes," Ray said in response, "Her brother's visiting their parents, so we'll have the place to ourselves."

James lifted his head, regaining interest in the conversation playing out next to him, just because of the content Ray's latest sentence.

"Wait, hold on," James then said, further interrupting the conversation – he needed to know if he really heard it or if he had just misunderstood something Ray said (it wouldn't be the first time). "June has a brother?"

"Yeah, and a very shy one, too," Ray replied, sort of waving it away as if he didn't want to mention the brother in the first place. He sighed, remembering what June had said about his social skills and fear of traffic. "Poor guy."

James slouched back into the couch, now having something new to think about, another detail to fit into the big puzzle he was trying to solve, not knowing whether he actually was a piece of said puzzle. Yet, each minor detail could turn out to be of great importance.

"Well then," Ray then said, "I'm going. Have fun, and be careful!" he quickly added, looking at Henry.

"Always," Henry replied, nodding in response. After saying those words, Ray stepped into the elevator, ready to go June, ready to have a fun weekend.

Henry turned his head to James, wondering why he'd asked about June's brother. Despite the fact that not much time has passed (practically just half a minute), the time traveler was already deep in thought.

"James?" Henry asked him, "What's bothering you?" It was the brother, yes, but what about him made this petty detail so important?

"June has a brother…" James responded, since he did not really hear Henry's question. He was still trying to fit June's brother in some sort of conspiracy. As far as he was concerned, the brother was guilty until proven innocent.

Unless, of course, he _was_ already innocent until something happened to him, something life-changing.

And then it became clear. This one drop created tidal waves, as James came to the realization he had been wrong all along and why he had be wrong, which could partially be blamed on his faulty memory.

Then, James jumped up from the couch.

"Stupid me!" He shouted, "I have made a big mistake!" This drew the attention of both Charlotte and Henry, who had stayed behind in the Man Cave. Especially Charlotte was worried, since she knew about Captain Man's true fate.

"What is it?" Charlotte asked him.

James turned his head to the two teenagers, cursing his damned memory. "Well, it's not really a mistake, but memory trouble," he explained to them. "It's failed me again! Ray doesn't die after quitting, but after leaving you -" he pointed at Henry, "- in charge for a couple of days. I should've realized Ray doesn't quit. I'm such an idiot!" He added, before going straight for the main computer. The time traveler was so preoccupied with what he was getting at, he barely noticed what he said.

"Ray's gonna die!?" Henry exclaimed. James nodded. It'd be stupid to deny it. Besides, he couldn't care less about keeping that to himself, now - as long as he didn't give away his true identity, he'd be fine.

"If we don't do anything, he will," responded James. He sat down on the chair and tried to figure out how that computer worked. He really needed to see whether this June or her brother would show up in police and criminal database. He had yet to remember June's brother's name, though. That was kind of an issue.

In the meantime, Henry thought the lack of response from Charlotte quite suspicious. With that kind of revelation/reveal, he imagined she'd be more surprised and would want to know more about it.

Henry turned his head go Charlotte. "Say, why aren't you..." He trailed off and never finished his sentence. As he looked at his friend, he could see in her eyes that she already knew. How, he had no idea, but there was no doubt Charlotte knew.

"You knew?" He asked her.

Charlotte nodded her head. "Yes," she said, "James accidentally told me."

Henry's eyes widened. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Charlotte opened her mouth to answer, to say James didn't want him or Ray to worry about it, but James was faster.

"Faulty memory," he responded, not knowing that question was meant for Charlotte. He didn't really hear anything before that, as he was too focused on getting the computer to work. Finally, he managed to get it to work.

"You may have noticed," he continued, "that I don't remember some things. Well, what I do remember is not always one hundred percent correct." He sighed, then took a deep breath before going back to looking for June in the database.

"He's not gonna die," James said, "not on my watch." It didn't help that her name was also the name of a month, so whenever a criminal did something in June, it would also be between the search results. He had not yet figured out how to set the search engine to 'people only'.

Henry and Charlotte stood behind him now, watching over his shoulder as he struggled with the computer.

"And you really believe June has anything to do with it?" Charlotte asked, also speaking on Henry's behalf. They had watched some footage from Junk 'N' Stuff. From what they gathered, June was a nice woman who genuinely seemed to like Ray. If she had been lying, she would be a great actress.

"Yes," James answered, now basically hitting every key on the keyboard, trying to get the computer to change those settings. At that point, Charlotte couldn't look at it anymore. After a quick interference, the settings of the database's search engine were as James wanted it.

"Thanks," he told her, receiving a "you're welcome" in return. He quickly typed June's name in the search engine and then hit the 'enter' button. The engine sent them directly to the profile of a criminal with June, with the picture confirming it was the June James had been looking for.

The time traveler cried out and jumped up, out of the chair.

"Aha!" James said, "I knew it! Dang it, I should've realized this a lot sooner!" As he turned his head away from the screen to silently scold himself once more for not coming to this realization before today, Charlotte and Henry took a closer look at June's criminal profile.

Everything was surprising to read, though none of the details stood out more than her full name: June Malinda Belcher


	13. The Belcher siblings

**Hello everyone! I'm back, right on schedule. I'm glad I managed to be able to give this to you after a little over two weeks. Anyway, here you have your next chapter, right before the climax. Before we go there, here are my responses to last chapter's reviews:**

 _CaptainMansBabyGirl:_ _Here is the chapter._

 _Emc Superbionics:_ _Oh, he sure is in trouble. Let's hope Henry, James and Charlotte can do something about it. I just know you'll like this chapter. Thanks for reviewing!_

 **Enjoy!**

 **-Writer207**

* * *

Even though being Captain Man meant living in the middle of the city and June lived closer to the eastern border, the journey to her home did not take too long for him. before he knew it, Ray rang the bell at the front door of the apartment building. It was one of those smaller buildings with ten floors, and it also housed considerably smaller apartments, yet still spacious enough to live in if you didn't have any kids.

 _Finally,_ he thought. Finally I'm doing this. Sure, being a hero is fun, but it's also one of those things that constantly consume your time and social life. Since he began his crime fighting career, he'd barely seen any woman who was interested in Ray, and not in the superhero.

He looked at his watch and smiled again. He was earlier than he thought he'd be. Great – now he could spend more time with her.

"Hello?" June's voice came through the intercom.

"Hey, it's me," Ray said. He wondered about adding his name to that phrase – she should already know his voice by now, right?

"Ray," she said after a long pause, "you're early." It could be because she was talking through the intercom, but she sounded as she wasn't too keen on seeing him right now.

"I know," he said. "Can I still come in?" It wasn't a particularly cold day, but the wind blowing in his face sure was cold enough to make him feel like it was starting to become winter already.

"Sure," June replied, and with a push on the button in her apartment, she opened the previously locked door. Ray walked inside, welcomed by the warmth of the lobby. With a smile on his face, he climbed the stairs to the third floor, where June's apartment was located. once he'd reached the right floor, he had to go to the end of the hallway on his left (the second door on the right from there) to finally see June again.

Once he was halfway down the corridor, the door of her apartment opened and she walked out of it. she stood in the middle of the hallway, awaiting him with a smile on her face and her arms folded. With only a few more yards to go, he spread his arms and the next moment, they were holding each other in a tight embrace.

"You're so early!" she said. Again, he noticed the lack of enthusiasm of her voice, and he frowned.

"I know," he said, "but I couldn't wait any longer." Was he really too early? Maybe her brother hadn't left the apartment yet, and he briefly felt guilty for arriving and taking away his chance to leave peacefully and calmly.

She let go of him and then lead him into her apartment. They entered in a smaller hallway, only two yards long, before setting foot in the living room. Ray looked around in wonder. Not only had he not yet seen her apartment, but he also almost expected to see a male version of June standing in the room, looking at him warily.

On his left, he could see the doorway leading to the kitchen – its door, however, seemed to be missing –, while the other lead to the bedroom. The bathroom was connected to the bedroom and the supply closet was located next to the small hallway.

"So," he said, placing his backpack temporarily on the couch, "Your brother's now with your parents, right?"

June nodded, and Ray couldn't help but sigh in relief – he wasn't here after all! "Don't worry," she said, "he's well out of sight." She grabbed his bag and then handed it back to him. "You can place it over there."

She gestured to the bedroom. Ray nodded and then went out to drop his backpack there. He stayed there for a while, staring at the double bed standing there. This raised some serious questions he needed to ask her. Why the double bed? Did she sleep in there alone? And while her brother was here, where did he sleep? There wasn't another bedroom in this apartment. But he soon forgot about the brother and wondered where he would have to sleep this weekend, hoping it'd be in her bed. It may be too soon, though, and he didn't exclude the possibility of having to sleep on the couch.

He walked out of the bedroom an saw that June was still sitting on the couch. _Time to jump into action,_ he though and joined her, sitting down next to her, very close to her. She smiled at him, and he grinned back. A strand of her beautiful brunette hair fell into her face and she gently pushed it back. _Wow, she's so gorgeous!_

"You know," he said, as a way to make conversation, "This is a really nice place you've got. Neat _._ " _Idiot! You can do better than that!_

But she seemed to like his compliment. "Thanks," she said, "I really love living here. Oh, wait here," she then added out of the blue, standing up from the couch. "I'll be right back. I got something for you." With an enigmatic smile, she turned her head and then walked to the kitchen. Ray waited for his surprise. It made him curious – what could it be that she got him? It had to be a snack or drink. Was there any other possibility? Unless she wanted to throw him off-guard by keeping a present in the kitchen, it had to be something edible.

She soon returned with two glasses of red wine. Ray chuckled at the sight of it.

"You want to start with that right away?" He asked her and immediately after he'd finished talking, she looked disappointed.

"Is it too early for wine?" she asked him in response, so he wouldn't have to guess what he was suddenly upset about. She put the glasses on coffee table before continuing, "I can bring you something else, if you'd like…"

"Oh, no," Ray quickly said, taking the glass closest to him, desperately trying to undo his mistake. "No, it's fine. Wine's okay."

"Are you sure?" June then asked him, still rather disappointed. He couldn't figure out if she was disappointed about him or about herself, for presenting him something he didn't like. "I really don't want to make you do something you don't want to."

"No, it's okay. I just don't usually drink this early." _I don't drink before the sun sets,_ he added in his mind. He didn't share this piece of information, though, because he was afraid to offend her even further and ruin the first afternoon they'd spend without having to go home when it was getting late.

It was silent in the room. June didn't speak, but she also did not take away the wine.

Dude! Just talk to her already. You can't screw up anymore! "So…" Ray began in a second attempts to strike up a conversation, which hopefully would turn out better, "you live here with your brother." He could just hear his conscience slap his forehead (if conscience's were personified and had foreheads, that is). _That's the best you can come up with? Very smooth. You're her guest for the weekend, yet you don't shut up about that brother of hers you've never seen. What if she's already missing his presence?_

June shook her head. "Only temporarily." She turned her head to him again – a small victory! "Once he's able to live on his own again, I'm finally free to invite anyone I want again, anytime I want." Now she was just looking at him seductively. Ray definitely approved of said look and nodded in agreement.

"Sounds about right," he said. he then proceeded to raise the glass of wine, without looking away from the woman who liked him. "To us."

June picked up her own glass of wine and mirrored his behavior. "To a new life," she said. the next moment, the both of them simultaneously took a sip from their respective glasses of wine. Though everything seemed alright, once he was done, Ray stared at his glass with a strange look in his eyes, as if he had just eaten a lemon. This, of course, was immediately noticed by June.

"Is something wrong?" she asked him, placing her glass back on the coffee table.

"This wine," Ray said, pointing at his glass, "Does this taste weird to you?" June shook her head in response.

"I didn't taste anything out of the ordinary," she said, as he placed his glass back on the coffee table as well. "Was it that bad?"

"No, it's fine," he immediately said – no more disappointing June this day. Besides, it probably wasn't the wine, but Ray himself. He had to get used to the taste of wine again, as he's always been more of a beer guy and only settled with wine when it was offered to him. Not many people offer him wine these days and he'd rather not spend his money on alcohol, anyway.

"What brought you to Swellview?" he then asked her, to take her mind off of the wine-topic. It seemed to work, as she leaned towards him and smiled mischievously.

"Haven't we discussed that yesterday?"

"I don't think so," Ray said, shrugging. He didn't remember much from yesterday's small talk at the restaurant, and so it was hard for him to tell whether they had talked about her reason for moving to Swellview – all he remembered was that June was relatively new to the city and its many wonders.

June leaned back again.

"The job offers," she responded, "and maybe Captain Man."

There was a confused look on Ray's face. "You like Captain Man?" the superhero had never come up in their conversations, as Ray purposely avoided mentioning him. Most single women and all teenage girls in this city had a crush on him, which indirectly made Ray a romantic rival of the superhero, even though they're basically the same person.

"well," June began, " _like_ is a big word. I'm grateful he's protecting this great city. But Ray!" she then exclaimed, placing her hands on his shoulders and grinning from ear to ear – apparently she found his confusion and jealousy amusing. "Don't worry! You don't have any competition."

Ray nodded and the smile returned to his face again. Finally, a woman who couldn't care less about being romantically involved with a superhero! There aren't a lot of women like her these days.

On a side note, he noticed it was time he'd go to the bathroom.

"Hey, June, I gotta…" He stood up to go there, but something stopped him. from the moment he stood on his legs, the room started spinning around him, forcing him to sit down again. This barely helped, as the room continued to move as if it was actually located on a ship in the middle of a huge storm. He placed a hand on his forehead, muttering a soft "wow…" under his breath.

"What is it?" June asked then asked him. He turned his head to her, but the room was still spinning around him and he was starting to develop a headache. His mind had to be playing tricks on him – that was the only explanation for him seeing just a glimpse of a smile on her face while she clearly was concerned about him.

"I'm sorry, I just…" he said, but was interrupted. He gagged, was afraid he'd throw up. he hadn't felt this miserable in years. "The room's spinning," was the next intelligible thing he managed to say. Even though he was focused on his misery, he tried to think of a reason, any reason, why he was feeling like this. The definite culprit definitely was the glass of wine, his specific glass of wine, as June too drank it and didn't experience this.

But what was in the wine? And more importantly, _who_ put that in the wine? What if it was a villain trying to take him down? Yet his mind quickly rejected that idea. All of them knew Captain Man, but none of them connected him with Ray Manchester, a man they've never met because they – along with most people – don't usually choose to walk into his shop with the intent to actually buy something. Nobody important knew Ray, but all the important people knew Captain Man.

"Should I call a doctor?" June asked him, gently placing a hand on his shoulder again. He shook his head in response, but soon stopped doing that – bad idea when your head was feeling as bad as his was right now.

"I'm fine," he said. "It happens sometimes. Don't worry." He lied to her only to make it seem like no big deal, to not make her worry about him. it was a good attempt, but neither of them believed that. A feeling of nausea settled in his stomach and he placed one arm over his hurting stomach. _Of course I'm not fine, for some reason the pain persists!_

A door slammed. From his perspective, Ray concluded it had to be the door to the bedroom. For a moment, he wondered whether he was imagining that or not. He had no idea what was going on, so poisoning with hallucinogenic something wasn't excluded from the list of things that could've been in his wine. Yet, the surprised look on June's face made him conclude that it was real, as she had to have heard it, too.

"What's that?" Ray asked after the confirmation. June quickly glanced to the door before turning to her new friend again.

"It's just the door," she said, "It creaks a lot. Are you sure you don't need a doctor?"

"How?" he asked himself rather than his girl. It wasn't just a creaking noise, it just had slammed. Ray had closed it after putting his belongings there, so something must have opened it again. Or maybe it was a someone, as it was impossible some invisible force opened and then closed it again. Unless said force came with a telekinetic villain. Yet, it someone really was here, Ray was convinced he would've seen him or her right away. There wasn't too much room to hide in this apartment, anyway.

At this stage, Ray was also having trouble keeping a clear head and sitting up. He hadn't noticed he'd placed his hand on June's shoulder to support himself until June placed her hand on top of his. She picked it up and gently placed it back on the couch, not letting go of hit just yet.

"Maybe you should lie down for a while," June suggested to him. Ray blinked a few times in confusion while looking at her. the room was still spinning around him, albeit a bit slower, but now his ears and eyes were failing him, too, as sounds seemed to be dampened and the room was getting darker.

With June's help, he soon lay on the couch where the both of them had been sitting together happily just a minute ago. As there was no more space for June to sit, she stayed next to him, watching him passively and patiently. This struck him as odd, as she offered to call a doctor no half a minute ago. He pondered about it, not looking away from her, trying to find small clues on her beautiful face.

"Is he out cold already?" a third voice, a male voice, chimed in. from his already partially obscured and limited vision he could not see the entire room, yet the direction the voice came from suggested the man who'd spoken was standing right next to June, well within his line of sight. But nobody was standing there. Briefly, he considered it to be his mind playing tricks again, hearing such voice.

"Not yet," June responded to the voice, "Than we can start."

Only after this confirmation on June's part, all pieces fell into place. _So that's her shy brother!_ The one person who knew his secret identity, not exactly a villain in name because he never engaged in life-threatening evil activities, only in extreme bullying and locking Captain Man and Kid Danger in his own coffin. June and Brad Belcher. Why hadn't he seen it coming?

Unfortunately for him, Ray didn't realize it until it was too late for him to do anything about it. He had come to a point where he was struggling to stay awake and whatever had forced him into this helpless position slowly pulled him deeper and deeper, successfully making him less aware of his surroundings. There was only room for one more thought before he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer and was gone.

 _You two—_


	14. The grand plan

**Hello everyone! Here's the next chapter. Just a quick reminder: My exams fall between June 12 to June 29. In the worst case, you'll get the next chapter in July - if not, then it'll be mid or end June. So you'll have to wait a bit longer this time around. But before we go there, here ar my replies to your reviews:**

 _Anomaly90:_ _Thanks for reviewing! Yeah, they're no fun for the readers, I know (but they're incredibly fun to write). Hey, at least it's not as bad as the Mark of Athena cliffhanger. (I don't consider it as bad as that one, anyway)_

 _Emc Superbionics:_ _I know, right? I totally love the side characters and I feel like Brad's story just... I'll just be really glad if he reappears again, even if it's just for one episode. There's so much you can do with an invisible man who just so happens to know their secret identities. (I may even write a Brad one-shot soon) Thanks for reviewing!_

 _CaptainMansBabyGirl:_ _That's June Belcher, my OC, who's been here from the very beginning. Go take a look at chapter 1, she's already there. Haven't you noticed?_

 _sarah: Here's not just the next chapter, but the climax. Thanks for reviewing!_

 **Enjoy!**

 **-Writer207**

* * *

Henry stared at the screen, perplexed, looking at one particular line in June's criminal record: her family. _Brad Belcher (brother)_ was listed as 'dead', referring to the empty grave in the graveyard after successfully faking his own death. He leaned back again.

"Invisible Brad has a sister?" he asked, as if he couldn't wrap his head around the idea that another Belcher, just as dangerous, was walking around freely and had effectively wrapped Ray around her finger.

James nodded in response. "He sure does."

Henry turned his head away from the screen and looked at James. "Did you know this?" He needed to know whether James could have been able to make the connection earlier. If so, why didn't he? It really was hard and kind of annoying to argue about it with someone who's memory wasn't working as well as it should.

James shrugged. "Brad mentioned it once or twice, but I've never really had the chance to meet her." To Henry's big surprise, James was talking about Brad as if he actually knows him. He was about to ask the time traveler, but he added one last line, shrugging. "Either way, we've got to be really careful."

"Yeah," Henry said, nodding in agreement, "Brad's dangerous." He couldn't help but to think about the days that Brad tried to bully him into quitting and to the time he locked him into a grave. His encounter with the invisible man had not been pleasant at all.

James turned his head to Henry, looking at him in confusion. "I was talking about June," James said, "Have you seen her crimes? She's a freakin' murderer!"

Henry then took a look at the list of June's crimes. Even though she appeared to be young, she nevertheless has a lot of crimes on her name. Even though she too was responsible for some thefts and minor offences, she was mostly associated with the murders of some rich men. She had married them for their money and effectively inherited it when they passed away. She had gotten away with it for a couple of times, pinning the murders on other people. She never expected her latest victim to survive her attack. with him as a witness, she was sent to prison, until she escaped. The file said nobody knew what was going on. One guard described the break-out as if she had suddenly developed telekinetic powers. A floating set of keys, comically flying through the air, was caught on camera, helped her get out.

"Char, can you track him?" James asked her while Henry was quickly reading through the details.

"Already on it," she replied. Within seconds, June's criminal record disappeared from the screen and was replaced with the tracking software on the computer. When James turned his head to Henry again, the boy was perplexed again.

"I put a tracker on Ray's gum tube," he explained. Henry still stared at him, as if to say 'why?', so James continued talking. "You can never be too sure of something, right? You should be glad I did it, because how else would we know where Ray is?"

"Found him!" Charlotte exclaimed, drawing the attention of the two men. "He's at 64 Sondheim Avenue." The two looked at the screen and confirmed that that was the exact address where Ray was supposed to be: in the eastern part of town. Or where he left his gum. Let's hope he still has it with him.

Then, in near-perfect synchronization, Henry and James turned around and went straight to the tubes. Henry raised an eyebrow when he noticed James' reaction. "You're coming?" he asked.

James sighed loudly. "Yes, I'm coming, too, Henry," he said, "I'm capable of defending myself, y' know. Also, I have this." James took a taser from out of his pocket, switching it on for a brief second to let Henry know it was fully functional. "You have your toys, I have mine."

Henry nodded. He wasn't doubting James at all – he was just commenting on something he already thought would happen. Him nodding was already enough for James.

"Let's go," James said, placing himself in one of the tubes to leave. He grew a bit impatient, though, since Henry first had to blow a bubble to transform into Kid Danger. At long last, they were ready to leave.

"Be careful!" Charlotte said, as a way of wishing them good luck, looking at them.

"Sure things," James replied, flashing her a big smile. Of course she was talking to him. Henry's done this countless of times before, but this was the first and only time she would see the future Jasper engage in a fight. She had nothing to worry about, though – his taser has saved lives before.

"Up the tube!"

* * *

When they finally found the apartment where June had taken Ray hostage, and kicked the door in. they rushed in through the small hallway and soon stood in the living room. June jumped up from her position and Ray was lying on the couch, hopefully not dead yet, though suspiciously non-moving and unconscious.

"Step away from him!" Henry yelled at her and June obeyed, taking a few steps back. James immediately went up to Ray t check his pulse.

"Kid Danger!" June said, looking confused, "What's going on?" She seemed genuinely worried about the situation, but Henry was not taking any chances with her. He placed himself strategically between June and Ray, so she couldn't try anything funny with him without passing him first. He quickly glanced over to James and Ray, only allowing him to take a look away from June for one moment.

James sighed in relief. "He's breathing." Henry released the breath he'd been holding and now focused all of his attention to June. Knowing how dangerous she was and still is, he did not want to take his eyes off of her for even a second.

"What did you do to him?" He asked her, furious with her yet trying to restrain himself – it wouldn't help if he crossed a line. She didn't answer the question and tried to keep up her act. However, before Henry could repeat the question, he heard a loud _thud_ from behind him. He turned his head to the source of the noise. He was just in time to watch James fall to the ground. The very next seconds, the floating baseball bat that seemed to have knocked James out stopped floating and hit the floor next to the unfortunate victim.

Henry's eyes widened. _Brad's here_. Stupid! Why hadn't they thought of the possibility of him actually being with her before? he should have noticed, though, he should have made the connection. After reading June's file, he should've known she wouldn't just pick a simple store owner as her next target if she didn't have a motive.

Before Henry could do anything, June grabbed his arm and didn't let go. He then took her arm and tried to squeeze himself out of it, but she held him so tightly it was impossible to escape. He was pulling, trying to free himself, expecting a second pair of hands to grab him at any given moment, though he focused more on escaping from June than finding out where Brad was.

Then, she let go. Henry stumbled backwards but he stood firmly on his feet. For one distracting moment, Henry was confused and tried to understand her reasoning. During that moment, a rope seemingly had come to life and decided to tie him up, tying his arms around his waist. June wasn't telekinetic, as the prison guards had wrongly assumed, but Brad was in the room and now was doing something he probably would have wanted to do for a very long time.

Henry took a few steps away, in an attempt to get away and break free. But the rope pulled him back. "No, no!" the disembodied voice said as Henry stumbled back towards it, "You are staying right where you are."

"Brad," Henry finally grumbled his name. He did not like to be at the mercy of this old bully at all.

"Henry," the invisible man replied, "I'd say it's nice to see you again, but I don't like you." With those last words, he pulled the rope a bit tighter, hurting Henry a bit.

In the meantime, June had brought a chair from the kitchen to the living room, which she placed on the ground. Brad pushed Henry to the chair and forced him to sit in it. He then proceeded to tie Henry to the chair as well, so the sidekick really had little to no chance of escaping.

June took a step back and admired the work she and her brother had done. Brad was still standing behind Henry, leaning heavily upon the chair – Henry could feel his breath in his neck, which was very unpleasant.

"Okay," Brad said from behind him, "What do we do now?"

"We continue as planned," June said, folding her arms.

"I was talking about the kid," Brad said in a monotone voice. Henry thought Brad was glaring at him, as he felt like he was staring down at him.

June rolled her eyes. "One problem at a time, Brad." She sounded annoyed.

"So, what _are_ you going to do?" Henry said, in a bold move to figure out their motives – because what else was there to do for him in this sticky situation?

"To you, you little brat? Nothing… yet" Brad said. his disembodied voice moved while he spoke, going from behind to right in front of Henry. He'd rather not imagine how close Brad's face was to his own.

"Don't," June said in a demanding tone. She was looking at Brad, no doubt, even if she only could guess where he was when she said it.

"I wasn't going to do anything," Brad said in response, finally moving away from Henry a little. "Geez, calm down, June. I know what I'm doing."

"Really?" June raised an eyebrow and looked at him, for as far as that was possible.

"Yes!" Brad exclaimed almost immediately, almost in a childish way, "Yes, I know what I'm doing." The voice moved further away from Henry, closer to June. "I mean, who irritated the brat? Who stole those drugs from Drill Finger, huh? And who—"

If there was anything else Brad had wanted to confess, Henry would never know about it. June had decided to interrupt him by slapping him in his face. Though she could have had no idea how close he was to her, it was effective. The impact of the hand on his face could be heard, and his groaning afterwards further proved she managed to do it.

"And now _you_ are going to behave like the adult you are," she told him in a stern way.

"Fine," Brad said in response, sounding a bit irritated by this situation. It had to be a long time someone hit him like that.

"Are you going to kill me?" Henry then asked the two. The longer they talked, the longer he had to come up with a plan to get out of this situation. So far, he didn't have any plan, so extra time would be nice.

"No." June shook her head before pointing at Ray, "I'm going to kill _him_. then I'm going to kill your friend. And you have the privilege to watch and suffer."

"And I will laugh my butt off and hope it won't end too soon," Brad added. Henry, for a good reason, could imagine him looking at Henry, arms folded and a grin on his face.

"Well, joke's on you," Henry said, "You can't kill him. He's indestructible, remember?" Had they really not learned anything from the news? Did they really not think this through? As long as he doesn't get into contact with tears from the jolly beetle, he is indestructible. Or maybe they already given him some tears and were waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Oh, yes we can," June said. Henry's heart skipped a beat, his thoughts immediately going to the tears. June walked over to the couch, on which Ray was still sleeping, and grabbed one of the pillows. Only then, Henry stepped away from jolly beetles and finally thought of an easier way to get rid of a superhero. He hoped, wished that Ray would get up now and stop her. unfortunately, he still did not move.

June smiled at Ray and stroked his face one last time. "Goodnight, Captain Man," she said with a sweet voice and then, the pushed the pillow in Ray's face.

Henry yelled "No!" as loudly as he could, unable to turn his head away from the scene. This prompted him to try and escape from the rope and the chair, but it wouldn't budge. As he was too caught up trying to escape, he almost missed the action in front of him.

James, having woken up, hit June in the back of her head with the baseball bat Brad had used to knock him out. June fall to the ground and relieved pressure from the pillow. It remained on Ray's face, but nobody was cutting of his air supply now.

Rather quickly, Brad stepped into action, grabbing the bat and easily pulling it out of James' hands. He pointed it at the man in the trench coat.

"You make one move, you're gonna get it again," Brad said, and the pillow was pushed down on Ray's face again.

"I'm this close to getting what I want!" Brad exclaimed, "I'm not going to let you ruin my chance to—"

James took his taser while Brad ranted and shot the invisible man. Because he was still talking, he could easily be targeted and the taser hit its target. Brad fell on the ground and didn't immediately get up; neither did June.

As soon as Brad hit the ground, James let go of his weapon, looking at the results with shock. Henry suspected James never had to use that taser before. James did seem to shrug it off quite easily, as he then proceeded to walk towards Henry. In silence, he began untying the sidekick.

"James…"

"I'm fine," he said, almost automatically, never looking up at him. Within a short amount of time, Henry was free once again. Henry rubbed his arms where the ropes bound him to the chair. This time, it'd been tighter than any other time he'd been captured.

"Thanks for helping out," Henry eventually said, extending his hand to shake James'. The time traveler did not accept it, but he did give Henry the ropes he'd been tied up with and smiled softly at the sidekick – it was a forced smile, he noticed.

"Would you like to do the honors?" James glanced at June and the electrodes still attached to Brad's invisible body. Henry nodded and walked to Brad, tying him up to his sister with the rope. James only helped minimally, helping Henry place the siblings back-to-back so they could be tied together.

Though, when Henry was almost done tying them up, he heard a door shut and when he looked around the room, he saw that James had left.

He secured the rope and once he was certain they could not get away, he went after James.


	15. Ray lives

**Hey everyone! I was able to finish this chapter sooner than I expected (that is, before the exams). Also, as of this chapter the story is complete. I'll miss writing this, but I'm glad I got it done before my exams. I will continue to write for Henry Danger, but it may take a while before you see something on here again, whether it's a one-shot or multi-chapter (at least until July). But until then,** **here are, for the last time, my responses to your reviews:**

 _OddDangerSpiritualCyberLover17:_ _Here's the last chapter._

 _Anomaly90:_ _Thank you! I hope you like this last chapter. Thanks for reviewing!_

 **Enjoy!**

 **-Writer207**

* * *

 _Man, that guy is fast!_ Henry thought to himself. Once he was standing in the corridor, James was already halfway to the other end and still going with a steady pace. If Henry had just been a bit slower with making sure the Belcher siblings could not escape and run away, he might have missed James completely. Geez, was he in a rush or something?

"James!" Henry called out for him. "Where are you—"

At that moment, James stopped and turned to Henry. For a fraction of a second, Henry thought to recognize sadness on James' face, even if there still was determination in his eyes. He was leaving, yet it looked like James did not want to, as if some bigger force forced him to.

"I'm leaving," James stated as neutrally as possible. As soon as he began to speak, he seemed to be putting on a mask, hiding his melancholy behind an air of indifference. As if pretending he did not care would make this easier for him, for the both of them.

"R-Right now?" Henry stammered, "But you can't—"

"But I have to," James interrupted him, insisting on doing something he probably did not want to do. "Henry, my work's done. There is nothing keeping le here. Look, I've got to go now…" he trailed off and was ready to turn his back to Henry and to walk away without any second thoughts.

"James—" Henry said, but he couldn't go any further than that.

"Please," James interrupted him. "Do not make this harder than it already is." It seemed to Henry that, in a way, James was trying to tell him to shut up, that with each word the sidekick said, it was harder for James to leave him behind.

But Henry didn't want him to go. Not now, at least. After all these days, he still hadn't been able to shake the feeling that the man in front of him looked familiar. He started to suspect they were sharing some sort of connection, that they knew each other. Henry wasn't ready to let go of the mystery time traveler yet.

"Look," James eventually said after a deep sigh, "Ray lives. Focus on that, will you? I'll be fine." A melancholic smile appeared on his face and Henry got the strange feeling he added those last three words to soothe him. The sidekick opened his mouth to reply, but soon closed it again. Instead, he nodded in response, in agreement. _I won't say anything. You can go quietly._

James sighed in relief. "Goodbye, Henry." The time traveler turned around and then walked away. He went from a slow pace to a faster one, until it looked like he was running away from Henry. The boy watched him leave, did not move until the time traveler disappeared behind a corner and had effectively left Henry.

"Goodbye, James," Henry said softly before returning to the Belcher siblings and Ray. He closed the door behind him. James did not return.

* * *

Being drugged wasn't that bad. It had happened to him before. some villains liked to drug him and then bring the hero to their lair, where he would wake up and beat them after they'd revealed all of their plans to him. No, he wasn't afraid of being drugged by someone. The part that's really scary is what they do to you once you're out cold and unable to prevent them from doing harmful things to you.

So, naturally, when Ray was starting to wake up, his first reaction was to **jolt (dict.)** up, completely bewildered and unaware of what had already happened.

"Easy, easy." Ray's eyes darted to Henry, who was sitting close to him. He calmed down a bit when he saw that familiar face, though he still felt that sense of danger, as if they both were now in danger. But as he calmed down, he began to take in his surroundings. He wasn't at June's apartment anymore – he was back at the Mancave, laying down on the couch.

"You…" Ray said, but he didn't get any further than that. He had no idea how to finish that sentence, but the options that came to mind were _you saved me, you helped me_ and _you got me away from June, how?_ Because even though he was already quite drugged, he did remember that it was June and someone else working together against him, for some reason. He failed to remember who helped her, but it had to be a bad person.

Henry nodded, figuring what Ray meant. "You're welcome," he said.

Ray sat up on the couch and more questions rose. How did Henry manage to save him from her, assuming 'save' is the right word to use? How long had he been here already? How long had Henry watched over him? It probably was rather late. The absence of Charlotte let him know that it had to be late, since she always left at a certain hour to go home.

"What happened?" Ray eventually asked – better start at the beginning, right? "Did she do anything to me?"

Henry shook his head. "Not that I know of. She did try to kill you."

Ray frowned. "By drugging me?" That was quite a dumb move, though it probably was logical in her eyes. It may have had an effect on an ordinary human, but you couldn't overdose the indestructible hero.

"By suffocating you," Henry replied. He was having trouble keeping a straight face, showing hints of distress and agony. "If we arrived ten minutes later, you'd be gone."

Ray blinked a few times after gaining this new information. So even if he was indestructible, he'd still need to breathe. Logical, but not fun. That's another weakness to add to his short list of weaknesses, right under the tears of the jolly beetle. His mind darted back to June, to the woman who played him all these days just to get close to him so she could kill him.

"June!" he exclaimed, "What about her? Is she…"

"Don't worry," Henry said, interrupting him, "She and Brad are in jail now."

"Brad?" Ray frowned. "As in, invisible Brad?" Did he have something to do with this? No, it couldn't be… Then again, there was this mystery voice replying to June right before he passed out and it could've been his.

"That's the one," Henry said, confirming the identity of the mystery man who was with June, "It turns out they're siblings. They both wanted to get rid of you, I guess. But me and James…" He trailed off, and glanced down when he mentioned the time traveler. Ray took this as a sign that something had happened to James.

"We saved you," Henry eventually continued. "It wasn't easy, but we did it."

"Where's James?" Ray immediately asked as soon as Henry was done talking. It took him a while to continue the conversation.

"He's gone," Henry said, "He left as soon as you were safe. He didn't go into detail, but he didn't want to overstay his welcome." That's all Henry had to say about the goodbye. But there was more to it. Ray knew Henry wouldn't react like that if there hadn't been more to it.

"So, he's really gone?" Ray asked him. Henry nodded solemnly. He didn't really say anything.

Ray stood up from the couch. "Well, too bad," he said, "I would've thanked him for his help if he had stayed any longer." Then he placed his hand on his stomach before looking back at Henry. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting hungry. You up for a pizza?"

Ray walked to the snack machine and waited for Henry's answer. When their looks crossed, they both knew Ray was faking his indifference – how else would he cope with the time traveler he never really wanted around in the first place? As if it would make the loss seem less painful.

"Yeah, sure," Henry replied.

From that moment forward, they rarely spoke about James the time traveler. The last official mention of the time traveler was that Henry and Ray raised their glasses for one last salute. Of course, that didn't stop them from thinking about the future, and whether it had changed for the better or the worse.

* * *

 _Dang it, Henry!_ James thought as he walked past the corner _. You couldn't just let me go quietly, could you?_ He didn't have to run. Yet the speed at which he was moving now comforted him. The bigger the distance between him and Henry, the better. He didn't want Henry to be around to see what was going to happen next.

When James raced down the stairs of the building, he realized he always knew. he may have pushed it at the back of his mind, the memory of what could happen to him may have just returned to him, but he felt like he always knew this was how it would end. The future, the one he grew up in, was gone, has been replaced by a brand new future, one James wasn't part of. Soon it would be his turn to disappear. How many minutes, how many seconds did he have left? He didn't know just how much, but if he really wanted to say goodbye, now was the best moment.

He walked out of the building, reaching in his pocket for his phone. He typed in a phone number and called it. The phone went over twice when Jasper picked it up.

"Hello?" Jasper said at the other side of the line.

"Hey, Jasper," James said, hoping he wasn't speaking too quickly. He didn't want himself to worry too much about his fate.

"James?" Jasper said, sounding confused. "How did you—"

"Got it from Henry," James replied, having anticipated the question about the phone number. "Listen up, there's some things I have to tell you."

"Okay," Jasper said, not sure what to make of the call. He was confused, had no idea what was going on. To him, it seemed like James was calling him for no apparent reason.

"Alright…" James took a deep breath and said the words he often told himself when the world around him went insane. "Jasper, run like hell because you always need to. Laugh at everything, 'cause it's always funny. Never be cruel and never be cowardly, and if you ever are, always make amends."

James stopped talking. He didn't know how to stop there, because he had no idea what to say next. For a short period of time, there was silence. but eventually, Jasper spoke.

"Did you just quote the Doctor?" he asked.

James frowned. Had he quoted the Doctor? He ran through the plot of every episode he's ever seen and then realized that, yes, it was a quote from the Doctor. He groaned – that was one of the things he didn't want to be wiped from his memory! He barely remembered anything from Doctor Who, but he wished that he at least had those memories back.

"Yes," he said. But what episode was it from again?

"But why would—" Jasper began, but he trailed off. Only a few seconds later he continued to talk. "You're saying goodbye, aren't you?

 _Clever boy!_ But James would have preferred that Jasper had not known the quote came from a moment of goodbyes and farewells. There was no point in hiding it now, was there?

"Jasper…" James tried to say something, but Jasper was quicker.

"You're leaving already? Why?" Jasper sounded disappointed, sad, confused. James couldn't blame him – he barely understood what was going on, and they never liked it when a person left them. But this was one goodbye James couldn't avoid.

"Ray lives," James explained, "Jasper, we did it. The future's been changed. I'm going to have to go. I don't even known how much longer I have." James paused and took a deep breath. Saying it out loud made it feel permanent and he already became stressed out. How many more seconds before he'd vanish into thin air?

"Jasper, please," he continued. He couldn't hide his own fear anymore, and now was begging rather than talking neutrally. "Just promise me you'll live by those words."

It was silent at the other side of the line. For one moment, James wondered whether Jasper was still listening or not. yet, eventually, he heard the words he so desperately needed to hear.

"I will, Jasper said. James nodded in response. Tears were welling up in his eyes.

"Thanks," the time traveler said, then gulped. "Listen, I gotta go. Farewell, Jasper. Say goodbye to Charlotte for me."

"James, wa—" Jasper never had the chance of saying another word. Right before James could officially stop the call, it vanished, fading away in his hands. James stepped away in shock and before he knew it he was breathing quicker than usual, shaking on his feet. With the phone gone, he sure would be next!

 _C'mon, Jasper! Take it easy, calm down,_ one voice said.

"But I don't want to die," James muttered in response, staggering backwards, heart racing. He was surprised he didn't shout it out loud.

 _Just calm down_ , the voice urged. _Breathe._ And James did as the voice told him.

He breathed in. He told himself it would have happened either way, so it was best to just accept it.

He breathed out. He couldn't feel his hands or feet anymore. There were no hands or feet anymore.

He breathed in. _Panicking won't help, just… just let it happen._

He breathed out. The feeling in his elbows and knees disappeared. it was spreading faster than expected.

He breathed in. _Easy, Jasper. Happy thoughts._

He breathed out. The picture of Naomi and his little girl came to mind – oh, how he wished to know her name!

He breathed in. Maybe it wasn't that bad an ending after all. He did good. He didn't remember much of the future, but he did good. He was good, he was right. He just made it a better place for his wife and daughter. They wouldn't live in the bad future he had to experience.

James never breathed out again. Any sign that the time traveler actually had been around, including the time machine, had vanished into thin air.

* * *

 _ **THE END**_


End file.
